U.A.E.’s Du to Profit as Competition With Etisalat Intensifies - BusinessWeek

Du, or Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Co., probably increased profit in the second quarter as it intensified competition with the United Arab Emirates’ other state-controlled phone company.

Du’s net income may have almost doubled to 114 million dirhams ($31 million), according to an average estimate of five analysts on Bloomberg. By contrast, competitor Emirates Telecommunications Corp. yesterday reported a 21 percent drop in profit from a year earlier to 1.9 billion dirhams ($545 million). Du typically releases quarterly results within a month of the end of a quarter.

“With mobile penetration at above 200 percent, the companies are competing more aggressively in the U.A.E.,” said Nishit Lakhotia, a Bahrain-based analyst at Securities & Investment Co. BSC. Du “has invested heavily in infrastructure, enhancing network coverage.”