Today's Edition
ABU DHABI (WAM)
UAE telecom operators e& and Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company P.J.S.C. (du) have paid
AED 3.54 billion in federal royalty to the UAE government during the first half of the current year compared to AED 3.73 billion in the same period of 2023 under the Ministry of Finance’s Royalty Guidelines.
According to the monitoring of the Emirates News Agency (WAM), based on the financial results announced by the two companies on the financial market websites, the aggregate amount of royalty payable by e& group in H1 reached AED 2.749 billion compared with AED 2.75 billion in H1 of 2023 while du paid AED 797.6 million in H1 of 2024 compared with AED 978.9 million for the same half last year.
From 2012 to 2023, the two telecom operators’ royalty payments stood at AED 90.3 billion (AED 70.6 billion by e& and AED 19.7 billion by du).
The e& and du announced in November 2023 they received the Royalty Guidelines for the local telecom sector issued by the Ministry of Finance for January 2024 Through December 2026.
The 2024 royalty payment formula does not extend to what's generated from its international operations. The excluded items include:
- Profits generated from internationally controlled entities.
- Profits of international noncontrolled entities (associates and joint ventures).
- 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.
- Profit attributable to non-controlling interest holders of the UAE-controlled entities.
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, as well as the royalty and corporate tax rate of 9% on profit.
For e&, the aggregate annual amount of royalty and corporate tax shall not be lower than AED 5.7 billion. On the other hand, the aggregate amount of royalty and corporate tax payable by du shall not be lower than AED 1.8 billion per year.
