UAE telecom giant Etisalat said Tuesday that its net profit dropped by eight percent to two billion dirhams ($545 million) in the first quarter of 2016 due mainly to forex losses.
Revenues were up by one percent to 12.9 billion dirhams ($3.5 billion), “impacted by unfavourable exchange rate movement, mainly in Morocco, Egypt and Pakistan, and aggressive price competition in certain markets,” the company said.
Etisalat is the second largest Arab telecoms firm after Saudi Telecom in market value. It has 165 million customers in 17 countries.
The UAE government, which owns a 60 percent stake in the company, decided in June last year to open it up to foreigners for the first time.
