Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC (du) reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2026, quarterly revenue growing by 4.6%, reflecting the continuation of the softer trends that emerged in March.
Despite the headwinds, the company delivered healthy quarterly performance with service revenue increasing by 6.7% and EBITDA growing by 9.2%. The EBITDA margin rose by 2 percentage points year-on-year to 48.8%.
Net profit for the quarter increased by 9.8% year-on-year to AED798 million, highlighting the resilience of the company’s operating model, disciplined cost management and continued focus on value creation.
In light of these resilient financial results, the Board approved an interim cash dividend of AED0.26 per share, an increase of 8.3% year-on-year.
Subscriber growth moderated compared with previous periods, with the mobile and fixed subscriber bases growing by 1.6% and 5.5%, respectively, reflecting lower activation levels since the onset of the regional conflict.
Capital deployment remains on track, with data centre projects accelerating as the company approaches the launch of services under its agreement with a global hyperscaler.
The company also advanced its ‘beyond the core’ strategy by launching du Ventures, a venture capital fund established in partnership with Shorooq that targets early-stage and growth-stage companies developing emerging technologies.
The mobile customer base reached 9.3 million subscribers in the second quarter, up 1.6% year-on-year. The postpaid subscriber base expanded by 9.0% to 2.1 million customers, reflecting strong demand for premium consumer offerings and from the enterprise segment.
The prepaid subscriber base declined by 0.4% year-on-year to 7.2 million subscribers, reflecting a significant decline in tourism activity during the quarter. This was partly offset by continued customer growth driven by enhanced prepaid propositions.
The fixed customer base grew by 5.5% year-on-year to 744,000 subscribers. The Home Wireless proposition continued to support growth by attracting consumers seeking flexible, convenient and economical connectivity solutions.
Demand for fibre broadband services remained stable, supported by the company’s network expansion and attractive fibre offerings.
Revenue grew by 4.6% year-on-year to AED4.1 billion, supported by a strong performance in service revenue. The company attributed the performance to the resilience of its core business, the success of its targeted customer initiatives and improvements to its value propositions.
Mobile revenue increased by 3.7% year-on-year to AED1.8 billion, reflecting the size of the subscriber base and improvements in the customer mix.
Fixed revenue rose by 11.6% year-on-year to AED1.2 billion, mainly driven by the healthy performance of enterprise connectivity and the Home Wireless product.
Other revenue declined by 0.8% year-on-year to AED1.1 billion, reflecting lower revenue from handset sales and non-recurring ICT revenue recorded last year.
EBITDA rose by 9.2% to AED2.0 billion, while the EBITDA margin improved by 2 percentage points year-on-year to 48.8%. The increase was driven by a stronger gross margin, supported by the product mix, as well as the company’s sustained focus on cost optimisation.
Net profit increased by 9.8% year-on-year to AED798 million, reflecting the strength of the company’s execution and its continued focus on delivering sustainable long-term value to shareholders.
Capital expenditure reached AED653 million, compared with AED545 million in the second quarter of 2025. Capital expenditure intensity stood at 16.0%, up from 14.0% a year earlier, primarily reflecting continued investment in the company’s network and accelerated capital deployment in data centres.
Operating free cash flow, calculated as EBITDA minus capital expenditure, increased by 4.6% to AED1.3 billion despite higher capital deployment during the quarter. The company said the performance highlighted the strength of its cash-generative business model, enabling it to balance growth with the delivery of sustainable value to shareholders.
Based on these results, the Board approved an interim dividend of AED0.26 per share for the first half of the year, representing an increase of 8.3% year-on-year and reflecting the company’s strong financial performance and commitment to shareholder returns.
Malek Al Malek, Chairman, said, “du delivered a strong set of results during the first half of the year, once again demonstrating the resilience of its business model and the strength of its execution. These results were achieved despite heightened regional tensions during the period, supported by disciplined strategy execution, operational excellence, and a clear long-term vision.
“We remain focused on building upon two decades of innovation, growth, and contribution to the UAE’s digital transformation journey. During the first half, we continued to strengthen our digital infrastructure capabilities through the accelerated execution of our plans and the diversification of our investment programmes.”
He noted, “The Board remains confident in management’s ability to navigate evolving market conditions while maintaining a strong customer focus, operational excellence, and disciplined execution. These qualities continue to reinforce du’s leadership position and support the delivery of sustainable long-term value.
“This confidence is underpinned by our strong fundamentals, healthy cash generation, and disciplined approach to capital allocation, which continue to provide the flexibility to invest in future growth while delivering attractive returns to shareholders. Accordingly, the Board has approved the distribution of an interim dividend of 26 fils per share.”
Fahad Al Hassawi, CEO, commented, “Our performance during the second quarter reflects the disciplined execution of our strategy, the strength of our customer proposition and our ability to quickly adapt to fluid market conditions. We focused on maintaining commercial momentum through targeted customer initiatives, enhancing our value propositions, strengthening customer engagement and continuing to invest in the quality of our services and networks.”
He added, “We delivered subscriber growth in mobile and fixed during the quarter, albeit at a measured pace compared to prior quarters. We continued to make meaningful progress against our strategic priorities, and accelerated our investments in cloud, AI and data centre solutions, to strengthening our digital infrastructure portfolio. During the quarter, we also expanded our innovation agenda through the launch of du Ventures established in partnership with Shorooq, a strategic investment platform focused on supporting high-potential companies developing emerging technologies. This development reflects our commitment to fostering innovation, creating new growth opportunities, and contributing to the UAE’s knowledge-based economy.”
He concluded, “We also managed our costs carefully to protect our margins and cope with a volatile situation. These efforts enabled us to sustain both top-line and bottom-line growth despite a softer monetisation trend and a cautious spending environment, demonstrating the resilience of our business model.”
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