Dubai, UAE, 21 October 2015

Drake & Scull International PJSC (DSI), a regional market leader in the integrated design, engineering and construction disciplines of General Contracting, Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP), Water and Power, Rail, Oil and Gas, Water and Wastewater Treatment, and du, the fastest growing telecommunications service provider in the Middle East, today announced a business services agreement between the two companies.

As part of the agreement, du will provide its cutting edge telecommunication services to DSI to integrate all aspects of business telecommunication within the UAE as well as exploring the possibility of implementing International Leased line circuits. DSI has been able to realize tangible cost benefits through their business relationship with du in the past, which resulted in a significant optimization in fixed line costs with the seamless integration of "Closed User group" and "Call Select" functionality, and cost saving with the "Closed User group" feature that enables free calls between employees. DSI's agreement with du also spans the provisioning of mobile devices which resulted in savings in GSM calls which has generated substantial savings over a 2 year cycle. DSI will also benefit from the "Unlimited International Data roaming" feature for executives to provide them with unlimited access to data on du's extensive global roaming network. The two companies will focus on connecting DSI's regional offices through International Leased lines to DSI's ISO 27001 certified Data center based in the Dubai Internet City in the near future.

"We are delighted to welcome Drake and Scull as the newest member of our ever-growing enterprise services family. We believe that the company will benefit immensely from our expansive suite of business services and solutions, which will provide impetus to their growth and business productivity," said Hany Fahmy Aly, Executive Vice President - Enterprise Business, du.

Terence Sathyanarayan, Corporate IT Director, Drake and Scull International PJSC, said, "du is a veteran of the UAE's telecom sector and perfectly complements DSI's growing communications requirements across our global markets. We are pleased with du's capabilities in business services and the multi-year agreement between our companies will address our connectivity and business solution requirements. We believe that in du, we have a reliable business partner which understands our evolving needs for business critical and scalable telecommunication services.

DSI continues to remain at the forefront of adopting the latest technology into our business operations and services. Pioneering efforts in introducing globally proven technology like the Oracle J.D. Edwards ERP solution, and the Aconex project collaboration platform have made a positive impact on global operations. The business services agreement with du will help DSI to improve quality and coverage of our global business communications to enable improved services offering to our clients. The agreement with du will also help us attain our target of reducing our SG&A costs incurred on global communications, which will improve our profitability and generate value for our shareholders."

For more information on du's portfolio of business services and solutions, please visit www.du.ae.

-Ends-

About du
We started operating in 2007, offering mobile and fixed telephony, broadband connectivity and IPTV services. Today, we serve more than 7.5 million individual customers and over 80,000 businesses in the UAE. We also provide carrier services for businesses and satellite up/downlink services for TV broadcasters.

We won the Gallup Great Workplace Award. Our recruitment strategy aims to provide fulfilling opportunities for quality talent in a cosmopolitan working environment where more than 60 nationalities work 35% of which are Emiratis. We are the first telecom company in the world to release a Sustainability Report based on GRI-G4 comprehensive guidelines. Among our other laurels, we also have the credit of being the first in the UAE to be awarded with prestigious LEED Platinum certification for 2 of our green retail outlet.

du is 39.5 percent owned by Emirates Investment Authority, 20.08 percent by Mubadala Development Company PJSC, 19.5 percent by Emirates Communications and Technology LLC and the remaining by public shareholders. Listed on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM), the company trades under the name 'du'.

For further information, please contact:
Saugat Chatterjee
PR Lead (B2B)
Brand & Communications
du
Mobile: +971559367045
Email: Saugat.Chatterjee@du.ae

Paramita Chakrabarti
LeoComm PR
Tel: +971 4 367 6159 
Mobile: +971 55 6088674
Fax: +971 4 367 2615
Email: paramita.chakrabarti@leocommpr.com

About Drake & Scull International PJSC
Drake & Scull International PJSC (DSI) is a regional market leader delivering world class quality projects via end to end solutions that provide integrated design, engineering and construction disciplines of General Contracting, Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP), Water and Power, Rail, Water and Wastewater Treatment, Waste to Energy and Oil and Gas, through People, Innovation, and Passion.

DSI established its first office in Abu Dhabi in 1966, and has since expanded operations to encompass offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Algeria, Iraq, India, Thailand, as well as managing projects in Europe and other parts of North Africa.

DSI's main business streams include Drake & Scull Engineering, which serves as the MEP and Water & Power arm, Drake & Scull Construction (DSC), which is the General Civil Contracting unit, Drake & Scull Oil & Gas, which undertakes oil pipelines and related petrochem projects, Drake & Scull Rail, Germany based Passavant Energy & Environment which focuses on Water and wastewater treatment as well as waste to energy and Drake and Scull Development, focusing on the Infrastructure sector.

In 2008, DSI offered 55% of its shares to the public and the IPO was oversubscribed 101 times. Ernst & Young ranked the IPO among the top 20 global IPOs in 2008. DSI has since then used the funds to integrate, establish and acquire businesses that complement its corporate strategy of expansion into new markets, via organic and inorganic growth.

The fully Integrated Management Systems, certified to ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2005, ISO 27001:2013 and OSHAS 18001:2007 standards are compliant with leading building, health and safety regulations, as well as sound environmental and energy management procedures.

DSI is a leader through experience, and has established a regional leadership position over 49 years of successfully completing the most complex projects on time, within budgets and matching set quality parameters. DSI has delivered more than 700 projects around the world in the last five decades catering to aviation, residential, mixed use, power plants, district cooling plants, hospitality, healthcare, renewable energy, data centers, petrochemical, rail, commercial, government, leisure, and infrastructure sectors.

For further information, please contact:
Rabih Abou Diwan
Corporate Communications Manager
Drake & Scull International
Mobile: +971 52 800 34 12
Rabih.aboudiwan@drakescull.com

Orient Planet PR & Marketing Communications
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Tel:  00971 4 4562888
Email: media@orientplanet.com
Website: www.orientplanet.com

© Press Release 2015