Dubai: Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Co (EITC) or du does not expect the 4 per cent decline in mobile subscribers seen in the second quarter to reverse in the three months to September, according to its chief executive.

“I do not see this (decline) reversing (in mobile subscribers). A lot of action is happening, a lot has been done to boost or stimulate the usage. When it comes to prepaid, we have a bigger portion of subscribers. I don’t foresee this to reverse,” Osman Sultan, EITC’s Chief Executive Officer, told reporters in a conference call on Thursday, a day after the company released its half-yearly financial results.

Post-paid clients account for 15-20 per cent of du’s total user base.

The UAE’s second biggest telecom provider registered a 1.6 per cent fall in mobile revenues in the second quarter to Dh1.81 billion due to Ramadan and Eid holidays. Fixed revenues rose 9.4 per cent to Dh583 million in the three months to June. Total revenues rose 2.9 per cent to Dh3.351 million in the second quarter.

Efficiency

The company, which embarked upon an efficiency programme in 2017, expects Dh1 billion in savings by 2020.

Sultan said there has been a positive impact from the efficiency programme that it undertook as the EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) growth outperformed that of revenues.

EBITDA rose 4.7 per cent in the second quarter compared to 2.9 per cent growth in revenues.

“We are heading to reach Dh900 million-Dh1 billion of savings. This is why you see today that our EBITDA is growing faster than revenue because we are much better in controlling our operating expenses,” Sultan added.

The company expects to launch “some prototype or experiment” on 5G in the last quarter of this year.

Sultan said he was ready for challenges in the future.

“An exciting but challenging future is ahead for all telcos, and we are excited about it. I don’t think there is a magic recipe. I think it will have to be a very methodological and disciplined homework across the value chain,” Sultan said.