At Telecoms World Middle East 2022, Etisalat UAE chief reiterates the importance of enhanced connectivity and digitisation for consumers and businesses in the next era of digital economy
Etisalat UAE, the telecom pillar of e& in the UAE, aims to sustain leadership as a digital telco and is already making great strides towards remaining resilient in the future hyper-connected world by transforming its technology model and excelling in customer and employee experience, said Masood M. Sharif Mahmood, CEO, Etisalat UAE.
Mahmood shared his insights during his keynote ‘Reframing the future for telcos: unlocking growth through an accelerated reinvention in the digital age’ at the ongoing Telecoms World Middle East 2022 conference. Held in Dubai, the event gathered leading stakeholders from across the telco ecosystem to collaborate and share insights on how to thrive in the future multi-faceted digital environment.
“The evolution in the telecom sector is all about conquering crossroads by showcasing resilience. The industry has continuously adapted in the face of disruption, adjusting to endure and grow in a drastically evolving ecosystem. At Etisalat UAE, we have continued this leadership as a digital telco by focusing on our core while at the same time curating digital experiences that maximise engagement. During our transformation into a telecom orchestrator, we remained laser-focused on customer centricity, digitalisation, and creating synergies across our businesses,” Mahmood added during his keynote presentation.
Telcos need to evolve into multi-sector digital service providers to maximise their share in the value chain. This entails rejuvenating the core and enabling next-generation verticals and digital experiences. We have started this ambitious journey to ensure sustained value creation by building new capabilities across AI and digital to thrive in an increasingly competitive and ever-changing market environment.”
He also highlighted how the telecom industry’s challenges during the last decade encouraged telcos to find new opportunities and transition more and more towards techcos, driving digital transformation for their networks and services. In the era of ‘connectivity renaissance’ the 5G network will enable us to take advantage of the limitless possibilities that we can imagine, innovate and implement ideas that will drive smart connectivity and maximise value creation for our customers in all segments.
The two-day event includes other speakers from Etisalat UAE and e&. Khalid Murshed, Chief Technology and Information Officer, Etisalat UAE spoke about embracing transformation to support an agile, scalable modern telco business; Ali Amiri, Group Chief Carrier & Wholesale Officer, e&, highlighted the evolution of the wholesale business and rethinking international wholesale strategies and Rashid Ali Al Ali, Vice President, International Sales, e& shared insights on how the future of gaming and metaverse will shape the wholesale business.
Etisalat Group has changed its brand identity to e&, effective from 23 February 2022. Its strategy aims to accelerate growth through the creation of a resilient business model representing the Group’s main business pillars.
The Telecoms business currently continues to operate led by Etisalat UAE in e&’s home market and by existing subsidiaries for international operations, upholding the Group’s rich telecoms heritage, bolstering the strong telecoms network and maximising value for the Group’s various customer segments. Ramping up the digital services for individual customers to elevate their digital-first lifestyle, e& life brings next-generation technologies through smart connectivity platforms in entertainment, retail and financial technology. To enable the digital transformation of governments, large-scale enterprises and corporates, e& enterprise focuses on maximising value through its end-to-end solutions in cybersecurity, cloud, Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), as well as deploying mega projects. e& capital allows the Group to focus its efforts on driving new mergers and acquisitions while maximising shareholder value and strengthening global presence.
