Corporate Information

Etisalat has been the telecommunications service provider in the UAE since 1976, and has built up a modern telecom infrastructure and established itself as an innovative and reliable operator.

Etisalat stands 140th among the Financial Times Top 500 Corporations in the world in terms of market capitalization, and is ranked by The Middle East magazine as the 6th largest company in the Middle East in terms of capitalization and revenues. The Corporation is the largest contributor outside the oil sector to development programmes of the UAE Federal Government, and is an award-winning socially responsible corporation. Etisalat has also won accolades from across the region for its nationalization programme.

Apart from enabling the nation with basic telecommunication services, Etisalat also offers a range of innovative and modern services that have served to position the UAE as one of the most advanced nations in terms of telecom services. Mobile users enjoy the benefits of excellent voice and data applications like WAP, GPRS, 3G, MMS, Push To Talk, BlackBerry services and others. Enterprise and individual customers on the fixed-line network also benefit from services such as ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), Frame Relay, VSAT and ISDN.

The Corporation offers fixed line services over the Next Generation Network, and has been migrating sections of its users onto the advanced network. The timeline for completion of migration is the end of 2007. By establishing NGN, Etisalat will be able to offer voice, video and data over one single source, enabling true Triple-Play functionality.

Mobile subscribers exceeded 4.5 million by the end of 2005, up 23% from 2004. This represents penetration of nearly 100 per cent, a remarkable figure regionally and internationally. Internet and broadband penetration also witnessed huge growth during 2005, with penetration at almost 51%. Etisalat has concluded roaming agreements with over 265 operators, and even Etisalat’s prepaid mobile subscribers can roam in many of these networks.

In 1982, Etisalat was the first telecom operator in the region to introduce a mobile phone service, and was one of the early adopters of GSM technology, introducing it to customers in 1994. Since then it has established itself as a regional pioneer by introducing both 3G and MMS in 2003, and most recently, the BlackBerry service in 2006.