du may bid for a virtual operator license in Saudi Arabia in its first foreign foray, its chief executive said, after the UAE's No. 2 telecom operator reported a 62 percent jump in quarterly profit. Du, majority-owned by government institutions and which ended rival Etisalat's domestic monopoly in 2007, said Thursday mobile data revenue more than doubled in the first quarter and it added subscribers. It operates in a market with one of the highest penetration rates in the world - 1.45 mobile subscriptions per person in the UAE. "Going abroad with a standard mobile network operator model, looking at greenfield or some merger and acquisitions is not on the agenda today," CEO Osman Sultan said on a conference call. Asked whether du would join bidding for Saudi Arabia's three mobile virtual network operator licenses in 2012, Sultan said: "We are studying ... the final decision will be for the shareholders. We have to look at the conditions in Saudi and other markets." MVNOs lease excess network capacity from telecoms operators. Sultan would not say whether du has held talks with Saudi Arabia's three mobile operators - Etisalat affiliate Mobily, Saudi Telecom and Zain Saudi – on hosting a du MVNO on their network. du is owned by Emirates Investment Authority, Abu Dhabi investment vehicle Mubadala and a unit of Dubai Holding.
