Etisalat partners regional FTTx MEGNA Summit; shares expertise in Master Class

Driving the Fiber revolution in the UAE, Etisalat partnered and participated in FTTx MEGNA 2011, one of the region’s most significant ICT conferences. The two-day conference held on 17 and 18 October focused on accelerating the pace of the Middle East’s march toward next-generation, high-speed, all-fiber networks. As the exclusive ‘Strategic Operator Partner’, Etisalat shared its knowledge and expertise at the event by providing a unique opportunity in the form of the ‘Etisalat Master Class’ on the second day of the conference.
“Etisalat has pioneered the fiber revolution in the region. Starting with the completion of fiber-optic roll-out in Abu Dhabi, making it the world’s first fiber-connected capital city, Etisalat will soon connect all residences in the UAE. Our recently launched eLife TV offers customers interactive, cutting-edge television experience through the most robust and feature-rich service available in the country. Delivered on Etisalat’s high-speed fiber-optic network, eLifeTV is made available within the corporation’s flagship ‘eLife’ Triple Play (Fixedline, Internet and TV) fiber-based residential broadband services,” commented Matthew Willsher, Chief Marketing Officer at Etisalat.
As a keynote panelist, Etisalat’s Ahmad Mohamad Darwish, Senior Vice President, Customer Service Engineering, discussed the future of fiber and possible ways of removing bottleneck to drive service innovation. The session analysed key revenue drivers for fiber networks and evaluated the considerations of working in coalition with competition on shared networks.
Addressing the audience at the Master Class, Mario Pino, Director of Business Development and Strategy, Digital Media Services Unit, Etisalat, analysed Etisalat’s innovative partnership with LG Electronics and its benefits for customers. Earlier this year, the two top leaders of their respective industries, entered a strategic alliance to offer customers Etisalat’s broadband services and content through LG’s new range of Smart TVs. The first completed effort of the alliance was the launch of Etisalat’s “OnDemand”, the region’s first managed IPTV Video On-Demand Service without Set-Top-Box and “OnWeb”, the new web-based video service that is available to Etisalat’s fiber-connected residential customers on all of LG’s Smart TVs.
During the Master Class, senior members of Etisalat also discussed the significant impact of network sharing on the future of the UAE telco market; the importance of fiber in relation to 4G services in the UAE and considerations based on Etisalat’s fiber deployment from a regulatory perspective.