The company, which owns mobile operator Jawwal and a fixed-line business, generated AED220m ($60m) of net profits, up from AED144m in the same period last year.

The telecoms monopoly had revenues of AED723m, up 32 per cent from AED548m in the first half of 2007.

The number of mobile phone customers using Jawwal reached 1.2 million at the end of June, also up 32 per cent from the end of June 2007.

Paltel will lose its mobile phone monopoly early in 2009 once Wataniya Palestine, a subsidiary of the Kuwaiti operator Wataniya, begins offering a rival service (MEED 29:7:08).