Royalties charged on the profits of UAE telecoms providers Etisalat and Du are not sustainable, the head of the Emirates Investment Authority (EIA) has told The National. The EIA controls a large amount of shares in both of the companies and its chief telecoms investment officer Kaj-Erik Relander has said similar royalty systems around the world have been prone to failure. About a third of Etisalat's annual net profit is claimed by the UAE government as a royalty charge.