Du is not stopping despite a tough few months earlier this year. The UAE telecom operator says it will continue to invest heavily in artificial intelligence, cloud services, fibre networks and data centres until the second half of 2026. “Demand from businesses is accelerating and the company has no intention to pull back on investment whatever the regional environment looks like,” CEO Fahad Al Hassawi told Ever List.
Strong H1 Numbers Even Amid Slowdown
Du posted good first-half results despite the slowdown that started in March with rising regional tensions. Revenue for the six months to June 30 rose 5.8 per cent year on year to Dh8.2 billion. EBITDA jumped 10.5 per cent to Dh4.03 billion, pushing the EBITDA margin to 49.2 per cent from 47.1 per cent a year ago. Net profit up 12.6pc to Dh1.63bn In the second quarter alone, revenue was up 4.6 per cent to Dh4.08 billion and net profit increased 9.8 per cent to Dh798 million. The board also approved an interim cash dividend of Dh0.26 per share, a year-on-year increase of 8.3 per cent. Those aren’t the numbers of a struggling company. These are the figures of a company that has successfully weathered a difficult period. If you are a du customer and want to easily track your usage and balance, take a moment to learn how to do a quick Du Balance Check from your phone without the need to call customer service.
Real Growth Is In AI and Cloud
Al Hassawi was candid about where he sees the biggest opportunity for the rest of the year. “The ICT business continues to grow very strongly in the market,” he said. “AI adoption and AI transformation led by the government is creating very strong demand for cloud adoption, agentic AI and GPU usage. I see a strong momentum happening there and I hope it will continue further into the year.” The UAE government’s ambition to become a regional leader in artificial intelligence is directly benefiting du’s enterprise business. With UAE companies improving their digital infrastructure and migrating more of their operations to the cloud, they are also experimenting with AI-powered tools. Du is one of the key providers helping them to do all that. If you’re a regular du customer, who uses a lot of data for work or streaming, then it’s worth checking out the Du Unlimited Data For 1 Month plan, so you can keep yourself fully connected without worrying about running out.
More Investment for Fibre, Mobile and Data Centres
Al Hassawi said investment will not be cut in any key area. “We will continue to invest in the mobile network, and the fibre network. “This is an area where we will not cut our investment,” he said. “Data centre expansion will also continue. “We take a long-term view of our investments, because they are vital to maintaining growth not just this year but over the years ahead.” Du said the company plans its investments over three to five years. Now the spending decisions are not about 2026. It’s about preparing for what 2028 and 2029 will look like. Specifically called out as products doing very well right now are broadband and fibre services on the enterprise side.
The network was never down during the regional disruptions
Managing its network during a period of serious regional instability was one of the most important things du had to manage earlier this year. The company activated contingency plans with a focus on network resiliency and continuity of customer service, Al Hassawi said. “Our challenge was to make sure customers didn’t miss out on the best service. We had a resilience plan in place across the network and customer operations, and the team did a great job in making sure that we continued to deliver a seamless experience,” he said. That’s the kind of operational reliability you want from your telecom provider in a crisis, and it’s what both enterprise customers and individual subscribers need. It was delivered by Du. If you ever need a quick data fix for just one day and don’t want to commit to a monthly plan, check out the Du Unlimited Data For 1 Day option to get full connectivity at a low one-off cost.
The second half looks good
Al Hassawi said du expects enterprise demand for AI, cloud and connectivity solutions to remain strong through the remainder of 2026. He also said du’s existing customer base was a source of steady income. “Our customer base is very resilient,” he added. We will continue to provide the best products on the market and expand the range of services we offer. “Our business model has proved resilient and we have shown we can adapt to challenges and still create value.” For a company that faced a weaker market from March and still managed to grow revenue by 5.8 per cent in H1, the second half looks to be even stronger if regional conditions continue to stabilise. Du is clearly not going to back off.
Du is investing for the future and the first half results show the strategy is working already. View more UAE telecom news and useful guides at Ever List.
