Du, the UAE's  No.2 telecom operator by subscriber numbers, reported a 17.8 per cent rise in third-quarter net profit on Tuesday, in line with analyst estimates as mobile data income and fixed line revenue grew.

The firm, which competes with Etisalat, made a net profit of Dh558.7 million ($152 million) in the three months to September 30, up from Dh474.3 million in the year-earlier period.

Analysts polled by Reuters had on average forecast du would make a quarterly profit of Dh563.1 million.

Third-quarter revenue was Dh3.03 billion, up from Dh2.64 billion a year ago.

"Data continued to be a key market driver during the quarter," chief executive Osman Sultan said in the statement.

"The world is evolving to incorporate integrated digital services into a commodity that is used throughout every aspect of our daily lives. The issue for the industry however, remains our ability to monetise data."

Quarterly mobile revenue rose 9 per cent year-on-year to Dh2.24 billion. Quarterly mobile data revenue was Dh684 million, up 11 per cent from a year ago.

Fixed line services revenue increased 36 per cent to 598 million over the same period.

Du said its average revenue per user (ARPU) - a key industry metric - fell slightly in the third quarter. It did not provide further details, but predicted ARPU would "remain steady over the coming quarters".  - Reuters