COVID Impact: Etisalat witnesses 3% drop in UAE subscribers to 12.2mln | ZAWYA MENA Edition
Telecom subscribers in the UAE declined by hundreds of thousands last year as the coronavirus pandemic took a toll on the economy.
The UAE’s major telecom operator, Etisalat, reported on Tuesday that its subscriber base in the country dropped by 366,000 (3 percent) to 12.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. Mobile subscribers fell 4 percent year-on-year to 10.4 million, mainly due to the decline in the prepaid segment.
In its statement accompanying its financial results, Emirates Telecommunications Group (Etisalat) admitted that its operations were impacted by the lockdown last year, with sales of mobile phones and uptake of prepaid and roaming mobile services falling at the same time.
Despite the challenges, the company ended 2020 with a consolidated net profit of 9 billion dirhams ($2.4 billion), up 3.8 percent year over year, and has recommended a special one-time dividend of AED0.40, bringing the total dividends for the year to AED1.20 per share, which represents a dividend payout ratio of 115 percent.
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