UAE telecom firm du, which began operations last year, reported a smaller quarterly loss on Monday in a result that bettered expectations.

The UAE's second-largest telecom operator posted a loss of 61.7 million dirhams ($16.8 million) for the first quarter ended March 31. That compares with a net loss of 215.85 million dirhams in the year-ago quarter.

Revenues rose 18 percent to 756.5 million over the previous quarter. The company said mobile customers reached over 1.757 million at the end of the first quarter.

Investment bank EFG-Hermes forecast the company would have a loss of 107 million dirhams in the quarter.
    
Du started a mobile telephone network last February, ending the virtual monopoly of Emirates Mobile Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat). - Reuters