Etisalat Group,which operates in India under Cheers brand,today posted a marginal decline in consolidated net profit at 1.74 billion United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED) for the quarter ended September 30. The company had a net profit of AED 1.72 billion during the July-September quarter last year. Etisalat Group operates in India as Etisalat DB Telecom - a joint venture between itself and DB Group. However,Etisalat Group's revenues in the September quarter rose to AED 8.04 billion,as against AED 7.40 billion in the year-ago period. "Revenue earned from international operations contributed 26 per cent to overall revenue and increased 18 per cent on the same period last year," Etisalat said in a statement. Etisalat Chairman Mohammad Omran said the company saw positive operational performance trend in the local UAE market and also reported revenue and earnings growth in overseas operations in September quarter. "We are confident that we will see this trend continue as the year goes on," he said. At the end of September 30,the company's cash and cash equivalent stood at AED 10.49 billion. Etisalat DB and its subsidiary has telecom licences in 15 circles,including Andhra Pradesh,Delhi,Gujarat,Haryana,Karnataka,Kerala,Maharashtra,Mumbai,Punjab,Rajasthan,Tamil Nadu (including Chennai),Uttar Pradesh (East),Uttar Pradesh (West),Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. It has received show cause notices from the Department of Telecom (DoT) in India for the potential termination of Unified Access Services (UAS) licence in two circles for not meeting the roll-out obligations within the prescribed time. Etisalat DB has filed its response to the notices and is awaiting a personal hearing from DoT,the company said. Further,it said that claims made by Reliance Infratel in relation to infrastructure sharing agreements increased to AED 429 million. The Management said it continues to believe that there is no probable liability arising from this matter.
