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Dubai: New UAE telecom operator du has reached the 850,000 mark for mobile subscriptions during its first seven months of operation, its chief executive said.
Chief executive Osman Sultan confirmed the figures during the Gitex Technology Week in Dubai, which saw a number of promotions and discounts announced for du mobile customers.
"This sounds like a more than a 10 per cent market share, which for a company with less than one year of operation is very good," noted Wael Ziada, a telecom analyst at EFG Hermes in Cairo.
This gives the operator an average new subscriber rate of 4,000 per day since the launch of its network in February, indicating healthy demand for the new mobile operator.
Rival etisalat said it has over six million mobile subscriptions in a county of 4.5 million.
However, du is also thought to have awarded a number of complimentary subscriptions to UAE dignitaries and VIPs at the time of its mobile network launch.
In the first half of 2008 du will benefit from mobile number portability, a process by which etisalat mobile customers may switch over to du without changing their number, and vice-versa.
Last week, du made another foray into mobile TV by partnering with Pan-Arab media company MBC. During the holy month of Ramadan, du customers will be able to view MBC-produced mobile TV programmes on demand in the form of four-minute 'mobisodes'.
This summer, du also launched its fixed line services, called carrier select, where etisalat customers may dial a prefix code to be redirected and billed by du for international calls. In late 2008, du will get considerably closer to its goal of providing TV and internet throughout the country.
In the next 12 months it is expected to complete its backbone network, although the company would not offer a definite date for when customers will be offered the two services.
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