- Announced the soft launch of Charge&Go, its first venture to support electric mobility in UAE
- Opened the world’s first AI powered autonomous store
- Major breakthrough in 5G Stand Alone network and speeds
e& successfully wrapped up its participation at GITEX Global 2023, attracting visitors, decision-makers, technology experts and the media to its stand with a wide array of innovative use cases across mobility, retail, healthcare, manufacturing, aviation, and oil and gas reflecting this year’s theme ‘Accelerating Innovation.
It focused on showcasing e&’s collective efforts in driving progress to create a better tomorrow. It was about showcasing cutting-edge technologies and their potential to transform industries, stimulate creativity, encourage collaboration, attract innovation enthusiasts, and celebrate success stories.
At GITEX this year, e& took a major step in electric mobility in the UAE with the soft launch of ‘Charge&Go’. It will be strategically placed nationwide to offer users a dependable, affordable, and easily accessible charging solution. The initiative aligns us with transformative goals such as Emirates Net Zero 20502 and Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy (DIES) 2030.
Another major announcement at the global technology event was the launch of ‘EASE’ (Etisalat by e& Autonomous Store Experience), the world’s first autonomous telecom store powered by AI utilising ground-breaking technologies to empower customers to seamlessly purchase etisalat by e& products and services.
The autonomous store will bring the future of retail to the UAE with its combination of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, facial recognition, smart gates, robotics, smart shelves, and smart dispensing machines. Shoppers enjoy a quicker and more convenient shopping journey with zero waiting time; this heightened level of convenience and speed contributes to an improved overall customer experience.
5G: Setting new milestones
This GITEX etisalat by e& has moved to the next stage of 5G with the stand-alone network becoming available for all mobile users. For the first time, mobile users will be able to use a complete stand-alone 5G network, providing access to higher uplink speeds, improved device battery life, and faster connectivity to the network. These benefits can support new applications, including rich voice over new radio (VoNR) and video over new radio (ViNR) calling experiences beyond an over-the-top (OTT) solution.
This was followed by the successful 5G SA service launch for Fixed Wireless Users (FWA) at the start of 2023, giving consumers access to a reliable nationwide standalone network allowing for seamless voice and data services across the country.
Another major global milestone was the 5G downlink speed of more than 13 Gbps, continuing to push performance with this major advancement in the 5G network and maintaining the UAE position as the fastest mobile nation in the world.
Strategic partnerships and thought leadership
This event was successful on various fronts, e& forged meaningful partnerships, and also took the stage as thought leaders in the industry. As a testament to its commitment to innovation and collaboration, e& and its business verticals signed MoUs with key stakeholders, solidifying their dedication to shaping the future of technology. These mainly included etisalat by e& partnering with government entities like NAFIS as part of their initiative to hire and empower Emiratis in the country, and others like Dubai Police, Cyber Security Council, and TAMM (Abu Dhabi Government Services), among others. With the Cyber Security Council there was also a graduation ceremony held for a special security program conducted in partnership with etisalat by e&. With the Ministry of Education e& signed a strategic partnership to foster the advancement of technology education. e& also unveiled its alliance with the World Government Summit, stepping into the spotlight as the event’s headline partner.
Its new electric utility business, ‘Charge&Go’ signed MoUs with leading entities in the private sector, making sure they strike the right partnerships and the new stations were installed across the country after the main launch later in the year.
Groundbreaking innovation
From global concept cars in autonomous, to designs and innovations that integrate intelligent connectivity solutions, emphasised e&’s commitment to shaping the future of mobility. The future of air travel was on display with ‘Autoflight’, an innovative sustainable airtaxi and the Mercedes-Benz VISION EQXX and VISION One-Eleven Concept Car were perfect examples of the future of transportation. In robotics, there were humanoids, also solutions for industries like ‘Macademic’ and a friendly robot ‘Mirokai’ with mobility solutions for the healthcare sector as well. Each business vertical under e& had a focus on the pavilion, etisalat by e& highlighted IoT and 5G with a special focus on 5G slice to enable live broadcasting, immersive 3D experiences, blazing 5G speeds, hologram technology, VR with 5G slice and also Microsoft’s co-pilot to address customer enquiries.
On the business side, etisalat by e& focused on highlighting how they can focus on solutions that can support the journey of a startup until they reach a unicorn. Global partnership with Vodafone was also a highlight in this section, along with robots from China Mobile and end-to-end vertical solutions for call centers, retail and government.
On the consumer front, there was the metaverse, where people from homes and offices around the world could visit a vast digital twin in the e& universe to explore and interact with 3D models of the exhibition virtually in stunning detail. Users could even see last year’s e& GITEX stand, demonstrating how events can be preserved and experienced again in the future.
In smart living, Samsung’s Family Hub Refrigerator was launched with visitors having the opportunity to experience a one-of-a-kind demonstration, notifying the users about expired food items, and enabling customers to order from the Smiles market through the Smiles app on the refrigerator screen.
For e& enterprise it was about focusing on the overarching story of value to customers, where visitors learned about enterprise value propositions in an entertaining and impactful manner, using interactive tech to allow visitors to discover the value of tech. There were also showcases like the ‘Anymal’ agile robot highlighting automation, the ‘Smart City Model’ strategically portrayed interconnected urban intelligence, in logistics, there was the digital twin energy solutions revolutionising logistics management with 360-degree facility optimisation.
In healthcare, there was ‘Careplix’ a comprehensive platform connecting patients and doctors through virtual consultations. Solutions from ‘NICE’ highlighted improving customer experience with cloud and data centre solutions where as ‘Engage X’ took visitors on a transformative shopping journey within the customer experience retail metaverse powered by -Spotnik-an immersive digital realm.
In cybersecurity, HelpAG solutions highlighted the role across sustainability, efficiency, growth, data insights, and customer experience, showcasing its impact on operational resilience, user confidence and secure digital evolution.
elife focused on smart retail and fintech with the integration of the elGrocer and Smiles app into the retail experience, showcasing retail capabilities and expanding its reach in the market. The emphasis was comprehensive shopping and an engaging experience with streamlined transactions and customer convenience. WIO digital banking solutions were also present, providing personalised services for spending, saving, and future planning.
For e& capital, the highlight was its acquisitions in the past year, from the e-sim provider Airalo to Maxbyte focusing on IoT and robotic solutions. Alma Health’s holistic solutions provided visitors with insight into chronic patient care solutions; Ikigai’s no or low-code AI platform; Almentor’s video-based learning focused on Arabic content; Komi the toolkit creators to build digital content; Lablabee to democratize telco cloud technologies; and the immersive social app ‘Vuz’.
