Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), the parent company of "du" and "Virgin Mobile UAE" is working towards the introduction of VAT in accordance with the Federal Decree-Law No 8 of 2017 issued by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. VAT will be applicable across telecommunications products and services at a rate of 5 percent as mandated by the Federal Tax Authority.
The acquisition of 9mobile, formerly Etisalat Nigeria, looks to be competitive, as 16 firms have submitted their interest to bid for the operator. Etisalat Group was forced to pull out of Nigeria this year after its firm couldn't come to an agreement with its lenders to restructure $1.2 billion debt after missed payments. Following Etisalat's exit, the Nigerian firm announced it had rebranded as 9mobile and said it is open to discussions with new investors.
Etisalat announced a new international calling plan for all fixed-line home customers. The new Unlimited International Calling plan will have wide appeal in the UAE as it enables expats to remain in touch with their friends and family back home.
du announced that it is the first provider in the Middle East to trial SDAN technology on NG-PON and establish an intelligent network capable of supporting future needs. Using Nokia's SDAN solution, du can accelerate innovation through a more open, automated network environment that makes it easier and faster to create and deploy new intelligent services.
Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica released its financial results for the January-September period, showing a profit of €2,439 million (+9.6 percent) and a free cash flow generation of €3,226 million (+ 39.2 percent). The company still faces heavy debt despite the sale of its infrastructure arm Telxius. Telefónica's debt fell by €3.646 million to €45.947 million.
Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC, the parent company of telecom brands "du" and "Virgin Mobile UAE" announced key organizational changes on Oct. 18, as part of a strategic approach to drive the company's transformation agenda and allow expansion into new areas of growth.
UAE telecom company Etisalat Group, which operates and owns subsidiaries in Middle East, Africa and Asia, released its consolidated financial statement on October 25 for the three months ending 30 September. Consolidated net profit after Federal Royalty amounted to AED 2.4 billion resulting in a net profit margin of 19 percent and increased year-on-year by 29 percent. The company's consolidated revenues amounted to AED 12.9 billion.
The Saudi Telecom Company (STC), represented by its enterprise unit STC Business, stole the show at GITEX 2017 in Dubai last week by unveiling a variety of ICT digitization enabling platforms - essential to achieving the Kingdom's Vision 2030 transformation objectives. The leading operator signed a Cloud Service Provider agreement with Thales Group at the event, and also signed mega deals with Nokia, Ericsson and Huawei.
Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) in Saudi Arabia reported a Q3 loss, blaming a requirement introduced last year that customers had to register their fingerprint with SIM cards. The company's net losses increased by 5 percent to 174.5 million riyals ($46.53 million) it said in a statement to the Saudi bourse. Revenue also dropped 4.3 percent to 2.8 billion riyals.
Dr. Khaled Biyari, STC Group CEO, confirmed that Telecoms turning towards Digitization is a need imposed by local and international reality. He emphasized that STC will move gradually from conventional telecommunications to Digitization.
