Etisalat has taken an AED2.83 billion (US$769 million) impairment charge on its international units, citing political and economic conditions as the cause. Of this total figure, AED2.37 billion was the write-down in value of the operator’s Pakistani unit.

The charge had an impact on the operator’s Q412 results, with net profit of AED854 million, according to Reuters. However, the figure still represents growth from a AED704 million net profit in the same period in 2011.

The operator’s full-year net profit was AED6.74 billion, an increase from the AED5.84 billion in 2011.

PTCL is Pakistan’s third largest mobile operator and also offers fixed services. According to Wireless Intelligence figures, the mobile operator had 24 million subscribers at end-Q412.

Etisalat reported a 2012 net profit of AED6.74 billion, an increase from the AED5.84 billion in 2011.

Fourth-quarter revenue was AED8.48 billion, a three per cent increase on the same period in the previous year. Full-year revenue was AED32.7 billion, a two per cent increase on 2011.

The company also took a smaller write-down of AED459 million in its Q412 results in relation to its fixed-line operations in Sudan.

Nawras announced the departure of chief marketing officer, Martin Lyne, who left the company to take up a new appointment in Europe. Ross Cormack, CEO will be taking over the role until a new CMO is appointed.

UAE telco, Du has announced that its fourth-quarter revenues rose by 13.6 per cent to reach AED2.74 billion (US$750 million), while net profit before royalty increased by 71.4 per cent year-on-year to AED852 million.

The company added 496,628 net new customers in the fourth-quarter, taking its customer base to 6.46 million at the end of last year.

In addition to customer growth across segments, an increase in data volumes and stronger ARPU played a significant role in Du’s continued growth in mobile revenues, which reached AED2.18 billion for the quarter, up 15.42 per cent on Q4 2011.

Mobile ARPU for the quarter increased to AED117.

Etisalat Group today announced its consolidated financial results for the year ending December 31, 2012 showing two per cent year-on-year growth in revenues. Net revenue for the year was AED32.9 billion (US$9 billion), while net profit increased to AED13.2 billion before Federal Royalty, up 27 per cent year-on-year.

Etisalat Group aggregate subscriber number grew to 139 million at the end of December 2012 representing year-on-year growth of 18 per cent across its 15 countries of operation. The Group reported strong net additions of 21 million subscribers as a result of growth across all of its operations.

Nokia Siemens Networks’ chief financial officer, Marco Schroeter has resigned from the company with immediate effect. He joined the company as its CFO in February 2011.

The reason for his resignation was not made clear by the company, although the comments by CEO Rajeev Suri suggest a job offer elsewhere.

He is being replaced by the company’s current chief operating officer, Samih Elhage. With Elhage’s move to become CFO, the chief operating officer role will be discontinued.

"Samih has made significant contributions in his role as chief operating officer and is well prepared to step into the role of CFO," said Suri. "He has deep commercial skills and a strong command of company financials – competencies built over the years as an operating executive at Nortel and as a senior advisor to leading private equity and global management consulting firms."