Dubai telecom firm Du earned 78 million dirhams ($21.24 million) in the fourth quarter as the firm recorded its first full-year profit on rising mobile phone subscribers in the second-largest Arab economy. Du, which ended the virtual monopoly of Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat) in 2007, posted 2008 net profit of 4.12 million dirhams compared with a net loss of 885.27 million dirhams in a year earlier. “Mobile activity is growing significantly,” du Chief Executive Osman Sultan said of the profit rise. “We are getting more subscribers but we are also getting more active subscribers and more revenue,” he said. Fourth-quarter revenue rose to 1.23 billion dirhams, nearly double revenues from the same period last year, the company said in a statement on Monday. Du’s mobile phone subscriptions doubled compared with last year, with the number of its active mobile phone subscribers reaching 2.5 million, the firm said.