Etisalat Group has reported a 29 percent increase in its net profit, after Federal Royalty, for the third quarter of 2017 with consolidated net profit reaching at AED2.4 billion resulting in a net profit margin of 19 percent.

Consolidated revenues amounted to AED12.9 billion, the Group said in a press release announcing its consolidated financial statement for the three months ending 30th September 2017.

Etisalat UAE revenues amounted to AED7.6 billion representing a 3 percent increase year-on-year. Its net profits for Q3 increased 4 percent YoY to stand at AED2 billion. EBITDA totalled AED4.1 billion, representing a one percent increase year-on-year and resulting in EBITDA margin of 54 percent.

The aggregate subscriber base reached 140 million. The UAE subscriber base increased 2 percent YoY to reach 12.5 million.

Saleh Al Abdooli, Etisalat Group CEO, said, "Etisalat continues to deliver a solid performance in the third quarter, despite the prevailing global economic challenges and the vastly transforming industry. We are on the verge of entering a new era, which transcends any technological disruption we ever witnessed and will be altering and reshaping our society and industry on a large scale.'' ''We always strive to remain one step ahead and to harness the power of technology for the greater value of our customers and communities. Our digital agenda has enabled us to enhance our internal operations and widened the spectrum of our offerings. It remains the key driving force while we are probing the potential that emergent streams, as in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, can bring to us,'' he added.

''Within the overall scheme of things, innovation remains at the core of our priorities, we believe in nurturing open innovation and in developing a favourable ecosystem through successful collaborations and targeted investments in future technologies. We are adamant when it comes to our innovation leadership and utilising it in delivering smarter solutions and adding value to our customers and shareholders,'' Al Abdooli concluded.