Page 18 - SAMENA Trends - September 2021

INTERVIEW SAMENA TRENDS

Thanks to the support of the UAE’s wise With growth from fixed broadband in the country. Keeping in line with its
leadership, our partners, and the regulatory and international subsidiaries, Maroc ambitions to provide its customers the
authority Etisalat achieved leadership with Telecom’s revenues for the second best in services and content, along with
the launch of the 5G network and succeeded quarter of 2021 amounted to AED 3.5 E-Vision it launched ‘Etisalat TV’, a state-
in achieving the highest penetration rate billion representing a YoY increase of 8 of-the-art app enabling viewers to enjoy
in Fiber to the Home (FTTH) globally for a percent. Moving ahead to maintain this both English and Arabic movies, series
third consecutive year. positive growth, Maroc Telecom will focus and Ramadan productions across smart
on investing in high speed broadband to devices anywhere and anytime.
Q. Can you take us through your meet the rising demand of voice and data
international portfolio performance? services. This also applies to the other In Pakistan, our operations witnessed
A. Etisalat Group today operates across markets in which Etisalat operates where growth mainly due to the positive
16 markets in Middle East, Asia and Africa we continue to enhance infrastructure and contribution from all operations
in addition to the UAE, the group also invest in new technologies building the particularly fixed and mobile broadband
operates in Saudi Arabia (Mobily), Pakistan fastest networks in the world. and Ubank services leading to an increase
(PTCL), Afghanistan (Etisalat Afghanistan), in subscriber base by 3 percent to 25.6
Egypt (Etisalat Misr) and Morocco (Maroc As part of its efforts to consolidate million. This was positively reflected in
Telecom) with its operations in Benin, leadership in the markets it operates, revenues with a 16 percent YoY growth.
Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Etisalat Group aims to increase its stake
Gabon, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, in Maroc Telecom from 48.4 to 53 percent, The rise in subscribers and revenue
Chad and Togo. Many of our markets which will contribute positively to the was due to the continuous investments
witnessed strong performance during profits of the group in the long run. during the year, PTCL increased its
the first half of the year resulting in a investments considerably to reinforce
YoY increase of 7 percent bringing the In Egypt, Etisalat Misr witnessed growth its digital footprint for maximum reach
aggregate subscriber base to 156 million. from mobile data and national roaming and engagement. PTCL also maintained
This reflected positively on the profits of revenue, with an increase in subscribers by market leadership in the fixed-line market,
the company that amounted to AED 4.7 3 percent bringing the revenues of second despite growing competition from Fibre-
billion representing an increase of 3.9 quarter to AED 1.2 billion, an increase of To-The-Home (FTTH) operators.
percent over the previous year. 27 percent YoY and 8 percent quarter over
quarter. Etisalat Misr also continued to Another historical milestone was to in-
For instance, Maroc Telecom witnessed invest in innovation across verticals with crease and diversify with foreign invest-
an increase in subscribers with a growth partnerships like Canal Sugar Company, ments accelerating growth that will help
of 8 percent bringing the total number of the first of its kind in the agricultural diversify the investor base and add further
subscribers during the first half of the year sector to digitally transform their financial value to our current shareholders as well
to 73.6 million subscribers. This growth transactions. as bring liquidity and depth in Etisalat’s
was driven by growth in operations in Mali, financial capabilities. This strategic de-
Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Chad, Benin, Etisalat Misr was also ranked among the velopment is a catalyst to achieve strong
Mauritania and Gabon. second fastest download/upload speeds results in the future accelerating growth
expectations in the coming period.

Q. What are Etisalat’s plans in expanding
its capabilities across its footprint?
A. The Group is continuously investing to
develop the required capabilities across
its footprint to address the evolving
requirements of the various customer
segments. To fuel growth both in the home
market and internationally, Etisalat will
continue to develop unique competencies,
both organically as well as through selected
mergers and acquisitions in priority areas.
As part of this strategy, in 2020, Etisalat
Digital, a dedicated business unit of the
Group, completed the acquisition of Help
AG’s businesses in the UAE and KSA. Help
AG is one of the leading cyber-security
companies in the Middle East and North
Africa (MENA) region.

18 SEPTEMBER 2021