UAE telco Du, reported revenue of AED2.038 billion (US$554.8 million) for the quarter to end-March, an increase of 29 per cent year-on-year. The company’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) jumped 69.4 per cent year-on-year to AED621 million, while net profit before royalty for the first quarter of 2011 increased 112 per cent to AED412 million.

Following the government’s announcement that Du would pay a 15 per cent royalty rate for the year ended December 31, 2010, the company will provision for royalty payments of 50 per cent of its profits until it is advised on the rate for 2011. Du expects to invest a total of AED1.7 billion in 2011, with AED477 million accounted for during the first quarter of the year, 52 per cent of which was spent on the rollout of its mobile network.

Subscriber growth and rising data usage were the key drivers behind Du’s strong sustained mobile revenues, which reached AED1.576 billion, up 35 per cent year-on-year. Mobile data revenues more than doubled from AED59 million in Q110 to AED141 million a year later and accounted for nine per cent of total mobile revenues. Du said it added 272,000 net active mobile subscribers during the quarter, taking its wireless customer base to 4.604 million as at end-March, of which 306,400 were post-paid customers (seven per cent of the total base), up 87 per cent year-on-year.

Mobile average revenue per user (ARPU) remained steady, at AED118 for the quarter, up from AED108 during the same period a year earlier. Revenues generated by Du’s fixed business, including fixed telephony, TV and broadband, amounted to AED337 million, a 27 per cent year-on-year increase. The company’s fixed line subscriber base grew 27.3 per cent from 456,700 in the first quarter of 2010 to 581,500 a year later, with 20,700 lines added during the quarter. Du has forecast a nationwide rollout of its fixed line services before the end of the year.

Kuwait based Wataniya Telecom reported that its first quarter profits to end-March jumped to KWD 285.1 million (US$1.03 billion), up from KWD 16.2 million a year ago. The figure was boosted by a one-off gain of KWD 265.5 million recorded due to revaluation of its existing interest in Tunisiana following the increase in the shareholding from 50 per cent to 75 per cent.

Net profit without the one-off gain amounted to KWD 19.6 million, reflecting an increase of 21.2 per cent year-on-year.

Revenues for Q111 amounted to KWD 169.8 million, up 35.1 per cent.

Wataniya’s total customer base increased to 16.6 million at the end of Q111, up 5.6 per cent.

Huawei Technologies today released its audited full-year 2010 financial results highlighted by sales revenues of CNY 185.2 billion (US$28.4 billion), a 24.2 per cent growth over the previous year. Huawei also reported an increased net profit of CNY 23.8 billion, up 30 per cent from 2009, and net profit margin of 12.3 per cent.

Huawei maintained steady growth in 2010 on the back of notable expansion in overseas markets as well as continued development in its three core business divisions – Telecom Networks, Global Services, and Devices. By the end of 2010, Huawei had deployed over 80 SingleRAN networks for operators, among which 28 LTE networks were commercially launched or ready to be launched. Huawei also shipped 120 million devices around the world.

The company also launched its enterprise business in 2010 and intends to dedicate extensive resources to further develop this offering, which provides network infrastructure, fixed and wireless communication, data centre, and cloud computing solutions for global industry and enterprise customers.

Qualcomm has posted a 46 per cent jump in its second fiscal quarter revenues to end-March to US$3.88 billion, while net profit rose by 29 per cent to US$999 million.

The figures were boosted by a US$410 million license settlement with Panasonic.

"We are pleased to report record quarterly revenues, and we are raising our revenue and earnings guidance for the year as the demand for smartphones across an array of geographies and tiers continues to grow," said Paul E. Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm. "In addition, we have resolved the second of the two previously disclosed licensee disputes."

The company shipped 118 million CDMA modem units in the three months to the end of March, up 27 percent year-on-year and flat sequentially.

The Syrian government has delayed next week’s planned auction of the country’s third mobile licence due to the ongoing political turmoil in the country.

Citing an unnamed person familiar with the matter, Zawya Dow Jones said that the delay comes after Syria’s president Bashar Assad dismissed his government and promised reforms to stem the tide of protest that is engulfing the country.

"The licence has been postponed because some elements on the supervisory committee were from the old government," the person told Zawya Dow Jones by telephone. "Some people are no longer on the committee."

No date has been set for the auction. Several bidders that had initially expressed an interest in bidding for the licence have dropped out, leaving only Qatar Telecom and Saudi Telecom in the bidding round before the process was postponed.

According to figures from the Mobile World, the country is estimated to have had just over 11 million mobile phone subscribers at the end of March 2011, which represents a population penetration level of 54 per cent.

The two incumbent operators will have to buy out their current BOT agreements and convert to a conventional licence agreement. The buyout price has been previously reported as being around US$500 million.