UAE Etisalat reported consolidated revenues of AED 13.0 billion by e& in the first quarter of 2023. At constant exchange rates, revenue increased by 6.6 per cent. Consolidated net profit recorded AED 2.2 billion while consolidated EBITDA reached AED 6.2 billion, resulting in an EBITDA margin of 48 per cent.
In the UAE etisalat by e& recorded 13.9 million subscribers an increase of 6 per cent compared to the same period of last year, The Group’s aggregate subscribers reached 164 million, a YoY increase of 3 per cent.
The group’s focus on expanding its digital offering and launching innovative new solutions and partnerships with leading technology companies around the world as part of its drive to become a global technology player has driven business growth.
Through a series of prudent mergers and acquisitions, e& is strengthening its position focused on delivering innovative solutions and driving digital transformation.
The financial performance in Q1 2023 further strengthened e &’s global position as the most valuable telecoms brand portfolio in the Middle East and Africa, according to 2023 Brand Finance, while the Group’s largest telecoms brand, etisalat by e&, continued to deliver outstanding innovative services as one of the three top telecoms brands in the world, and retained its position as the strongest telecom brand across all categories in the MEA region.
The group recently signed a binding agreement with Uber Technologies, Inc (“Uber”) and its subsidiary Careem to acquire a majority stake in Careem’s Super App spinout with an investment of $400 million, as part of e&’s strategic ambition to expand its digital consumer offering and accelerate its transformation into a global technology and investment group.
e& has successfully completed the acquisition of ServiceMarket, expanding the range of digital services on the Smiles online marketplace and offering more everyday services to its customers. It has further strengthened its global positioning this year, being recognised as the most valuable telecoms brand portfolio in the MEA region, worth over $14 billion, according to the 2023 Brand Finance Global 500 Report.
e& has taken further steps in the use of cutting-edge technologies by partnering with E-Space to develop satellite-based cloud-native digital and IoT solutions optimised with edge AI to maximise the value of borderless smart connectivity and digital solutions across land, sea, and air applications.
The Group has also partnered with Intel to focus on the deployment of edge data centres with a focus on a net zero carbon footprint, incorporating the latest 4th generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors.
In addition, e& also announced its intention to integrate Microsoft Azure OpenAI GPT into its internal operations and processes, as well as a potential service to improve the customer experience and support the media industry in its daily tasks.
Also published on Medium.
