Etisalat posts 10% rise in UAE internet customers in 2009

Etisalat said on Sunday that its internet subscriber numbers had reached 1.27 million in the UAE, a 10 percent increase since the start of 2009.

Mobile phone subscribers had reached 7.44 million at the end of last month while fixed line users numbered 1.31 million, the company said in a statement to the Abu Dhabi bourse.

The UAE's biggest phone company, said third-quarter profit rose 5 percent to 2.25 billion dirhams, according to the statement. The lender made a net profit of 6.847 billion dirhams in the first nine months of the year.

Company assets grew by eight percent in the nine-month period and stood at 38,367 million at the end of September.

Etisalat said earlier on Sunday said it had acquired a 16.6 percent stake in SoftAtHome, a software provider of home operating platforms.

The acquisition will enable the UAE telco to develop and provide a holistic digital home experience to its customers, the company said in a statement.

SoftAtHome enables telecom operators to combine different services such as voice, video, user interface, security, network access, connectivity or management and deploy them across different devices in the home.

On Thursday, Etisalat chairman Mohammed Hassan Omran said he was looking to reach 100 million subscribers in 2010 as the telecom company focusing on expanding its markets overseas.

The number of Etisalat subscribers around the world currently stands at more than 85 million but Omran said it is targeting further growth, despite problems in some of its 17 markets.

For full coverage of GITEX, see ITP.net

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