Page 18 - SAMENA Trends - February-March 2021

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Etisalat Group Reports Consolidated Net Profit of AED 9.0 Billion A 3.8%

Increase Year Over Year

Etisalat Group announced its consolidated Community Support during Covid19 • Establishing command centres
financial statements for the 12 months Etisalat launched multiple initiatives equipped with advanced tools to
ending December 31 2020. to support the community during the monitor the performance of services
2020 Financial Highlights and Key pandemic including but not limited to: provided to government departments,
Developments • Etisalat provided Free Internet access to businesses and customers 24/7
• Aggregate subscriber base reached families without connectivity at home • Allocating extra network resources and
154 million, representing year over year to facilitate access to distance learning services to the health sector
increase of 3.6%. services. • Provided connectivity to quarantined
• Consolidated Net Profit reached AED • More than 10 million Etisalat mobile and other critical areas in the health
9.0 billion a 3.8% increase year over subscribers enjoyed free browsing to sector
year attributed to strong growth in over 800 websites related to education, • Conducted Stay-At-Home awareness
the international operations that health and safety. campaigns across multiple channels.
outweighed the decline in the UAE • Free access to apps and platforms for • Etisalat rolled out special offers with the
operations. distance learning and for government support of the Frontline Heroes Office to
• Consolidated EBITDA amounted to AED services. help frontline professionals nationwide
26.4 billion, representing a year over • Launched enhanced offers for stay connected to family and friends at
year increase of 0.3% and resulting in customers to upgrade their home and home and abroad while protecting the
EBITDA margin of 51.1%. mobile plans at no extra charge. nation through the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Proposed dividend payout of 40 fils • Etisalat introduced a wide range of Industry Recognition
per share for the second half of 2020, device bundles and free access to • Etisalat crowned as the ‘Strongest
representing a total dividend payout of Etisalat’s unified communication and Brand’ in MEA region and ranked the
80 fils for the full year. collaboration platform CloudTalk most valuable telecom portfolio brand
• Board proposed cancellation of the Meeting to help businesses stay in MEA for 5th year in a row
share buyback program and instead connected. • Etisalat recognized as the fastest
proposed a one-time special dividend • Introduced new innovative applications mobile network in the world by Ookla
of AED 0.40 per share. As a result, the and services to ensure seamless • Etisalat awarded ‘Best Regional
total dividend per share for the full year business continuity during work from Wholesale Carrier’ for the 12th year
2020 is AED 1.20 home period. • Etisalat recognized by Frost & Sullivan
• Credit Ratings by agencies S & P Global • Etisalat deployed a dedicated task force as ‘UAE Data Centre Services Industry
and Moodys affirmed Etisalat Group’s to ensure business continuity, monitor Company of the year’
high credit rating at AA-/Aa3 with stable the performance of basic applications Key Developments
outlook. and ensue smooth access to data • Etisalat completed the acquisition
• locally and internationally of Help AG, a privately held regional
company specializing in the delivery of
cyber security solutions and services
• Digital Financial Services, a joint venture
of Etisalat and Noor Bank, partnered
with MoneyGram to offer international
remittance services in the UAE
• Etisalat achieves the world’s fastest
5G download speed of 9.1 Gigabits per
second
• Etisalat partnered with Ericsson to
connect to its charging system and
5G Business Support Systems (BSS)
supporting new use cases including IoT,
network slicing, AR and VR
• Etisalat successfully launched open
virtual Radio Access Network (Open
vRAN), becoming the first operator in
MENA to achieve this technological feat
• Etisalat unveiled the 5G-enabled smart
patrol for Dubai Police, a first in the

18 FEB-MAR 2021