Page 84 - SAMENA Trends - September-October 2022

ARTICLE SAMENA TRENDS

ARTICLE

Harnessing the Power of 5G to Change Lives and

Businesses

When we thought about bringing 5G to the people, we had our
heart set on being the difference and leading the way in the era of
‘connectivity renaissance.’ Staying future-focused, we brainstormed
how we could revolutionise people’s lives by implementing
innovative technologies that serve them in the best way possible.

These past four decades, the essence of ‘connectivity’ has
undergone several iterations in the UAE. The UAE leadership
has always recognised the importance of driving innovation
and establishing a world-class digital infrastructure to boost the
country’s socio-economic growth for the benefit of its citizens
and residents. As the country’s first telecommunications service
provider founded in 1976, we were guided by similar principles
to pave the way for a better tomorrow: deploying technologies
that are connecting people and bringing them closer to what is
important to them.

5G deployment is accelerating the UAE’s
digital transformation boosting the
country’s reputation as the Middle East
technology and digitalisation hub. We
are proud to have been instrumental in
maintaining the UAE’s network leadership
with one of the fastest and most advanced

networks in the world as well as its global
Khalid Murshed FTTH penetration leadership.
CTIO From launching voice connectivity to introducing the Middle East’s
etisalat by e& first broadband internet service, followed by the region’s first 3G
network and 4G in the UAE, we’ve come a long way. Since the
beginning of the international 5G development journey, Etisalat UAE
has led the regional and international standardisation activities
working in close coordination with UAE’s Telecommunications and
Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA). This has included
putting the necessary technical specifications and regulatory
environment in place, while ensuring timely availability of unique
spectrum resources. By 2019, we’d enabled key sites across the
UAE with 5G. In hindsight, the implementation of the 5G network in
the UAE before 2019 was so important for the economy, especially
as the pandemic hit soon after, disrupting the way organisations
did business and forever impacting people’s lives as well as
industries and economies.

84 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2022