DUBAI: e&, formerly Etisalat Group, reported a consolidated net profit of 2.4 billion dirhams ($653 million) in the first quarter of 2022, an increase of 3.6 percent, the Emirates News Agency reported on Monday. Etisalat Group recently changed its name to e&. The report noted that by Q1 2022, Etisalat UAE had 13.1 million subscribers, whereas aggregate group subscribers stood at 159 million, an increase of 2 percent as compared to the same quarter in 2021. Hatem Dowidar, group CEO of e&, said: “We will continue to explore new avenues of growth, expand our offerings, enhance the quality of our solutions, forge new partnerships, and launch a number of digital initiatives to support SMBs, governments and large enterprises.” e&’s clear vision is to create a more progressive business model that leverages the group’s business pillars, Dowidar said. According to the report on WAM, with a stronger demand for data and digital services and the group’s ability to leverage superior networks, e& delivered strong financial performance across all key metrics.