Page 10 - SAMENA Trends - November 2020

FEATURED SAMENA TRENDS

the backbone of Etisalat’s new ‘Business In the UAE Etisalat the performance of services provided to
Edge’, a new business platform offering a government departments, businesses and
wide range of cutting-edge services from continues to deploy customers 24/7.
the cloud and targeting the SMB segment 5G networks across
remaining an important engine of growth With the gradual opening of the economy
in the UAE. the country while 4G and businesses while adhering to
LTE network coverage precautionary measures, telecom and ICT
The application of cutting-edge robotics, AI sectors will play an increasingly significant
and biometric technologies also played a reached 99.70 percent role. Globally 55 percent of employers
key role in improving business operations. and 3G covering 99.82 anticipate that most workers will want to
There was an emphasis on transforming work from home after the pandemic and
the brick and mortar experience to digital percent *1 72 percent office workers want to work
retail providing a digital experience to from home atleast two days a week. This
the customer. Digitisation in retail and From the beginning Etisalat was always the is a radical shift in the lives of people
self-service touchpoints expanded the first in the region to take a lead and launch with digital coming first for sectors like
rollout of ‘Smart Stores’ by upgrading the previous generations of the network mainly education, healthcare and the workplace.
current stores. There was an increased 3G, 4G and 5G. The network coverage today
focus on driving the subscriber online with reaches across the country with 4G LTE Over 35 percent 5G
a revamp of our portal and application. network coverage touching 99.70 percent
Transactions today are also seamless with and 3G covering 99.82 percent. FTTH has network coverage acro-
virtual technologies being implemented for reached 95.7 percent of homes across ss main cities in UAE
consumer transactions. Etisalat’s first new the UAE, maintaining the UAE’s position
digital store is an illustration of our efforts. as a global leader in FTTH for the third
The main pillars of innovation here focused consecutive year. Network deployments in Q. What new services have made a major
on providing customers a complete digital 5G reached over 35 percent covering the impact on the lives of the consumers and
journey with full mobility, self-service main cities in UAE. running of businesses?
with digital interfaces giving customers
the flexibility to purchase packages and As a previous winner of the Speedtest A. Inspite of the challenges faced during
products including dispensing of SIM Award™ for fastest mobile network and the last few months due to the pandemic,
cards. fastest broadband network in the region our consumer and businesses have had
for 2019 Etisalat amplified its efforts on an array of innovative digital services. In
UAE continues to improving the mobile network, supporting video, Etisalat launched Switch TV, the
business continuity in a work-from-home
maintain its position as environment, facilitating distance learning brand-new OTT streaming service for all
UAE residents, offering a significant line
a global leader in FTTH and providing entertainment to families at up of free and premium live TV channels
home.
deployment. within the sports, entertainment and news
genres. With financial services gaining
During the pandemic, Etisalat was able to momentum, eWallet has upgraded its
Q. What are Etisalat’s major achievements provide support to quarantined and other features and capabilities by introducing
on the network that has added value to critical areas in the health care sector. With seamless international money transfer
keep businesses running and support remote healthcare services becoming an services to 200 countries and expanding
consumers to continue their lives in the essential area with telemedicine solutions the merchant portfolio to exceed 400
new normal? launched for the sector, we supported brands and 4,000 outlets across the UAE.
them with access on an exceptional
A. Etisalat has made global achievements basis. Our teams also made sure that they Mobile and fixed core services is another
by setting benchmarks in the industry covered other industry sectors in terms of area of major focus, where subscribers
making infrastructure accomplishments seamless business continuity. witnessed the launch of the new Freedom
that supersede advanced global markets. Plans for postpaid consumers, offering
Our subscribers were among the first This was done with complete network unlimited local and international calls
globally to access and enjoy the speed and resource deployment made possible for the first time in the UAE, clubbed with
of the 5G network in UAE. This was through multiple initiatives, introducing new several benefits on Smiles and Switch
only possible due to the continuous applications and services to government TV. For businesses, postpaid plans such
investments in our network in terms of entities and departments, monitoring the as ‘Business First Plus’ enabled to carry
technologies and solutions making it the performance of basic applications and over unused minutes and ‘Business
most advanced, resilient, dependable and ensuring smooth access to data locally and Xtreme’ was the country’s first unlimited
secure. internationally. Command centres were calling plan for executives. An exclusive
equipped with advanced tools to monitor ‘Mobile Service Center’ for businesses was

10 NOVEMBER 2020