The UAE’s two largest telecom firms, e& and du, have contributed a combined Dh3.54 billion to the country’s government in H1 2024, a slight decrease from last year’s Dh3.73 billion payment.
The aggregate amount of royalty payable by e& group in H1 reached Dh2.749 billion, slightly down from Dh2.75 billion in H1 2023. Meanwhile, du paid Dh797.6 million in H1 2024, down from Dh978.9 million for the same period last year.
From 2012 to 2023, the two telecom operators’ royalty payments stood at Dh90.3 billion, with e& contributing Dh70.6 billion and du Dh19.7 billion, according to calculations made by the Emirates News Agency (WAM), based on financial results announced by the two companies on financial market websites.
The latest Royalty Guidelines for the local telecom sector detail the payment formula for the period between January 2024 and December 2026.
The federal royalty rate of 38% will be applied to the sum of regulated and non-regulated UAE net profit for both e& and du, along with a corporate tax rate of 9% on profit. For e&, the aggregate annual amount of royalty and corporate tax shall not be lower than Dh5.7 billion. For du, it shall not be lower than Dh1.8 billion per year.
The 2024 royalty payment formula does not extend to revenue generated from international operations, excluding profits generated from internationally-controlled entities and international non-controlled entities, as well as dividends or other profit distributions received from international investments already subject to local corporate or other similar tax in the respective jurisdiction at 9% or above. The profit attributable to non-controlling interest holders of the UAE-controlled entities was also excluded.
