Enhanced customer experience at home and work with efficient connectivity and services
Dr. Ahmed Bin Ali – Group Senior Vice President
During this unprecedented period that has challenged both health and economy, Etisalat has taken many steps to ensure that its network, services and teams are well equipped to support all its customers. Etisalat teams are working non-stop to make sure that all its customers, including government departments, large enterprises, SMBs and subscribers across the country, stay connected. With overall data traffic on the telco’s network expected to surge exponentially, Etisalat’s advanced network is resilient, reliable and secure and has sufficient flexibility to adapt to changing consumer and business demands. Etisalat offers all the connectivity tools and services people need to continue to communicate and conduct business including the fastest fixed broadband and mobile network in the region.
Keeping in line with the government directives to encourage citizens to stay at home and be safe in the current scenario, Etisalat’s bundle of initiatives for consumers and businesses will make it easier to study, work, entertain and remain connected with family and friends from the comfort of their homes.
Etisalat recently increased its local network capacity while also boosting its international data capacity to enable all customers with the best possible experience while they, learn, work and get entertained from home.
A wide range of products and services are being offered to customers, including access to remote working apps, remote collaboration tools, zero-rating and whitelisting of educational websites, free on-demand movies and premium content on eLife, StarzPlay, OSN and Switch TV, free eLife upgrades, and ‘Freedom’ postpaid mobile data promotions, among others. These are designed to provide entertainment to families at home, facilitate uninterrupted distance e-learning, boost employee productivity and ensure seamless business continuity.
Empowering 1 million UAE students to support e-learning
Etisalat has enabled at least one million students in the UAE to access distance learning websites and platforms using its advanced network, with more than 10 million mobile subscribers enjoying free browsing to over 800 websites related to education, health and safety.
To support and enable distance learning, free mobile data was made available – in coordination with the Ministry of Education and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) – to over 12,000 students whose families do not have Internet at home. Etisalat also provided access to 9 apps and platforms for distance learning, allowing visual and audio communications: Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams, Blackboard, Zoom, Skype for Business, Cisco Webex, Avaya Spaces, BlueJeans and Slack on its fixed and mobile network in collaboration with the TRA. These are part of a bundle of initiatives to support the education sector, ensuring smooth functioning of remote learning processes.
These initiatives stem from Etisalat’s corporate social responsibility strategy to utilise its resources and capabilities, empower the educational sector with state-of-the-art technology, and ensure seamless and effective connectivity across all learning platforms.
Keeping in line with its strategy ‘Driving the digital future to empower societies’, Etisalat is committed to support distance learning initiatives in the UAE following the ministry’s decision to extend distance learning until the end of the current academic year.
Etisalat will continue to offer all the connectivity tools and services students and teachers need, including the fastest fixed broadband and mobile network In the region, to ensure seamless continuity of the country’s education curriculum.
For Remote Working-collaborating on Etisalat’s Cloudtalk
For three months, businesses can also access for free its online collaboration platform – Etisalat CloudTalk Meeting – to help maintain business continuity by providing a secure platform to collaborate from any device, location, and network in the UAE.
In fact, Etisalat expanded its CloudTalk Meeting by enabling 50 concurrent participants to join an online meeting and discussion, in response to the high volume of requests and growing demand for the service.
The three months’ free access to Etisalat’s unified communication and collaboration platform CloudTalk Meeting launched recently was well-received by the market, with numerous businesses and government entities coming on board to use the service and streamline their operations while they work remotely.
CloudTalk is securely hosted in the country presenting robust capabilities that enable government departments and organisations to work remotely, maintain business continuity, and ensure smooth functioning of their businesses.
Etisalat is fully committed to supporting businesses in the country during this unprecedented period through solutions and services to ensure that there is no business impact on their operations. CloudTalk Meeting will enable organisations to remotely work, maintain business continuity, collaborate, and ensure smooth functioning of their businesses.
With a robust backend capability that is hosted in the country, the reliable solution guarantees that businesses and all our customers have a seamless experience. The increased capacity of users per session will facilitate more team members, customers, and remote workforces to use the secure platform to meet all their business requirements. Etisalat’s CloudTalk Meeting allows participants to join meetings and discussions simultaneously, with an added feature of a moderator to personalise and manage the meetings. With this scale-up, a greater number of users will be able to communicate using advanced features such as HD quality video and voice conference, instant messaging, group chats, draw schemas, and use the whiteboard, and much more.
Business operations can remain uninterrupted with Cloudtalk’s unlimited video conferencing and online collaboration sessions without any additional fee for this service. The platform provides state-of-the-art features for meetings and collaborations that help in boosting business productivity and contributes to elevated user experience. The free access to Etisalat CloudTalk Meeting is valid until 10th June 2020.
Bringing in flexibility and efficiency for the SMB segment
With the SMB segment forming a significant part of Etisalat business, there was a comprehensive platform called ‘Business Edge’ launched to offer a wide range of services and solutions that cater to Small and Medium Business (SMB) customers.
Collaboration and communication from Business Edge enables SMBs to connect to customers in a secure and scalable way, allowing employees and customers to talk, video-conference and share documents, using Etisalat’s ultramodern, cloud-based unified communications service.
Business Edge not only provides smart internet connectivity but also secures a customer’s office environment by offering next generation cloud firewall, advanced endpoint security for PCs and Android devices and cloud based video surveillance.
This new platform gives access to a comprehensive set of solutions they need to do business digitally, from helping them promote their business online to providing software applications to run their business underpinned by customer insights and analytics.
Current times demand that businesses are ready to securely work and collaborate remotely. It also requires the ability to adapt to dynamic business conditions. With Business Edge’s SMBs are able to minimise upfront investments while accessing top services to manage their business according to their needs and utilisation, in a ‘pay as you grow model’. With solutions required to adapt to dynamic business conditions, Etisalat launched the Business First Plus provides additional flexibility to our customers in these challenging times, allowing them to carry forward their unused voice minutes and optimise how they use mobile services. The launch reinforces Etisalat’s commitment in empowering businesses by offering new products and plans that cater to their varying needs and requirements.
This postpaid plan enables business customers to roll over unused minutes to the next month and enjoy the benefit of any unused allowance. With the “carryforward” feature, Business First Plus customers can avail an affordable postpaid plan, and will not lose their unused minutes as it will be rolled over to the next months. The “carry forwarded” minutes have a three-month validity.
Enjoy high speed and top notch entertainment
With more people staying at home, Etisalat’s special promotions will entertain as well as help customers enjoy higher speeds on their home network.
Existing elife TV and internet bundle (triple play) customers who chose to move to a new eLife Unlimited Plan will receive the upgraded benefits at no extra charge for three months. The eLife Unlimited plans offer speeds from an incredible 250Mbps more than enough to work-from-home and keep everyone streaming their favourite content. Subscribers also have the option to downgrade back to their old plan if they wish for no penalty during this time.
eLife viewers will be kept entertained with free on-demand movies each week for the next six weeks as well as enjoy free StarzPlay for three months with the latest Arabic, Western TV series and movies simply by subscribing on-screen. For customers who want more premium add-on packs “Arabia, Western, Asian or Pinoy” they can also subscribe for free for the first three months. Customers will also receive an entire month of OSN’s El Farq package containing some of the biggest names in entertainment with channels being opened for free viewing for all eLife TV customers.
With Etisalat’s recent launch of a brand-new OTT video service SwitchTV, subscribers can enjoy free premium content such as movies, live TV and on-demand movies. The app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store, Google Play or the new Huawei App Gallery and is available to all UAE residents regardless of provider.
For Staying Connected with family and friends
Etisalat has also launched special promotions for postpaid customers to stay in touch with family and friends. Existing ‘Freedom’ postpaid customers on 200GB and unlimited data activated in March 2019 will benefit from an extended double data promotion on their plans.
Safe, convenient, flexible and easy-to-use international remittance in UAE to 200 countries
Digital Financial Services, a joint venture between Etisalat and Noor Bank, launched eWallet’s international remittance services to 200 countries and territories worldwide in partnership with MoneyGram International.
eWallet customers can now make international money transfers in real-time at the most competitive rates free of charge from the safety of their homes, avoiding queues or visiting a public place. Money transfers can now be digitally made to over 350,000 locations consisting of banks, over the counter agents, and international mobile wallet operators in over 200 countries and territories worldwide. The offer is for a limited period only. An eWallet customer, depending on the destination, will have the option to send funds either directly to a recipient’s bank account or to a mobile wallet.
eWallet continues to be an innovative solution that uplifts the way UAE residents conduct financial transactions today. We understand that in light of the current global situation, people are increasingly choosing to send money digitally from the comfort and safety of their homes. As people work to support their family and loved ones across the globe, we aim to enable them to safely and instantly remit money to over 200 countries and territories worldwide. Regulated and licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE, eWallet is a revolutionary digital payment service aimed at empowering the UAE residents with safe, convenient and flexible payment solutions through an easy-to-use mobile app.
Unlike other mobile wallets and payment apps, a unique feature of eWallet is that there is no need to have a bank account, credit or debit card to do digital payments. Customers only need a valid Emirates ID and a working UAE mobile number to register for eWallet account. Once registered, users can instantly top-up their wallet balance and start sending and receiving money between mobile phones, transfer to own or third-party bank accounts, and do merchant payments, bill payments, and mobile recharges. Users can deposit and withdraw cash from their wallets by visiting the nearest location as guided in their app.
Remote customer care
Etisalat is encouraging consumers and business customers to also utilise mobile and online services including ‘My Etisalat UAE’ app, Etisalat business mobile apps and business portals.
With the ‘My Etisalat UAE’ app, customers have a 24/7 access to make payments in a safe and secure manner connecting instantly using live chat. The app enables access to bills and payments, share credit and data, check usage and shop.
