Etisalat is ready to serve the ‘New Normal’ pushing the fast forward button on digital transformation by focusing on partnerships, collaborations and investments with digital adoption being key for new digital services, said Dr Ahmed Bin Ali, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, Etisalat Group.
Bin Ali participated on behalf of Khalifa Al Shamsi, Chief Strategy and Corporate Governance, Etisalat Group at the ‘The Telecommunications Sector and its impact on Future Foresight Post COVID 19’, a virtual future foresight forum organized by UAE’s Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) and UAE International Investors Council. The event brought together all relevant strategic stakeholders from the telecom and technology industry including senior executives from TRA, Ministry of Interior, Smart Dubai, Department of Economic Development (DED), Dubai Future Foundation, Khalifa University, University of Dubai, Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority, Microsoft and Noon.
He highlighted the readiness and resilience of Etisalat during the pandemic, the main focus was to support the entire community including business and individuals ensuring its network and services enable business and learning continuity.
“Thanks to the UAE vision and Etisalat’s strategy of ‘Driving the digital future to enable societies’, our network joined one of the most robust and digitally equipped to address the unique requirements during this period making it possible for businesses to work remotely, millions of students to enjoy distance learning and all citizens having access to vital services. Through our networks and dedicated teams we were geared to fully support and serve the community showcasing infrastructure preparedness and our ability to adapt and implement during today’s extraordinary times,” said Bin Ali.
Etisalat worked closely with the Ministry of Education during the pandemic to provide zero-rate access to educational URLs and free mobile data for students. There was also free access to the madrasa platform on eLife and remote learning apps. For the healthcare sector, there was a telemedicine platform made available to support hospitals and clinics in providing remote healthcare services. IoT/AI platforms were used for disease containment, AI video analytics including thermal cameras and wearable IoT solutions were among the other advanced solutions used for the sector.
