du, the UAE telecom operator formally known as Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, made AED2.4 billion ($653.5 million) in net profit in the first nine months of 2026. That is 10.8% more than the same period last year, and it came in a year the company itself describes as disrupted in its opening months.
Revenue for January to September rose 6.2% to AED12.3 billion ($3.35 billion). Service revenue, the money du earns from mobile, home and business connections rather than device sales, grew slightly faster at 6.8% to AED9 billion.
Every Segment Grew in the Third Quarter
Between July and September, du brought in AED4.1 billion in revenue, up 7.1% on a year earlier. Quarterly net profit reached AED786 million, compared with AED732 million in the third quarter of 2025.
Mobile revenue climbed 3.9% to AED1.8 billion. Fixed revenue, driven by home wireless internet and connectivity for companies, rose 7.1% to AED1.2 billion. A third bucket covering wholesale, IT services and handset sales jumped 12.6% to AED1.1 billion, helped by the iPhone 18 launch.
Margins held up. EBITDA, a common measure of operating profit before interest, tax and depreciation, rose 6.7% to AED2 billion in the quarter, keeping the margin at 47.7%. Over the full nine months, the margin widened by 1.3 percentage points to 48.7%.
9.5 Million Mobile Customers, Growing More Slowly
du ended September with 9.5 million mobile subscribers, 3.3% more than a year ago. Postpaid customers, who usually spend more each month, grew 6.4% to 2 million, while prepaid rose 2.5% to 7.4 million. Fixed subscribers increased 5.2% to 756,000, mostly thanks to home wireless.
Still, the company said subscriber growth slowed because of regional headwinds. It also pointed to tight cost control as the reason it could absorb inflation linked to the regional situation without hurting margins.
Spending Shifts Toward Data Centres
Capital spending is where du is pushing hardest. Capex reached AED647 million in the third quarter, up from AED492 million a year earlier, and AED1.68 billion across nine months, a 19.1% increase. The company said the money went mainly into data centre infrastructure and network upgrades.
That extra investment came at a cost to cash. Operating free cash flow, calculated as EBITDA minus capex, slipped 2.3% to AED1.3 billion in the quarter. CEO Fahad Al Hassawi said the push into data centres, cloud and advanced connectivity is taking du beyond its traditional role as a network provider.
20 More Years of Licence Certainty
Two moves in the quarter gave du a firmer footing. Its UAE telecom licence was renewed for another 20 years, and its royalty arrangement was extended for three years. Al Hassawi said the renewal lets the company plan long term with confidence.
du was also added to the MSCI UAE Standard Index and the FTSE All-World Index after meeting their liquidity requirements. Funds that track those benchmarks buy the stocks inside them, which puts du shares in front of a much wider pool of global investors.
