Fiber cable network, Earth Stations keep the country well connected
Saleh Al Abdooli, CEO of Etisalat, at Gitex Technology Week at the World Trade Centre. — Supplied photo
A major symposium in Dubai highlighted the city’s strengths to host World Expo 2020 in terms of its advanced Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure.
Nasser bin Obood, chief government relations and communications officer for Etisalat, spoke of the group’s support for the bid in a keynote panel session titled ‘Drivers of Change: Mobility, Sustainability, Opportunity’.
Obood said opportunities such as the flow of ideas, and intellectual and financial capital will shape the future of all countries.
He highlighted how in today’s Internet economy, access to global minds through advanced communications is an essential factor in unlocking intellectual capital from across the world.
“Since 2004, Etisalat and other ICT providers in the UAE have worked in partnership with the government to deploy millions of kilometres of cable across the country to ensure seamless high-speed Internet for mobile devices. Today we offer the world’s fastest broadband to the home, and last year, we demonstrated the world’s fastest mobile connectivity. Combined with our extensive submarine capacity, the UAE’s ICT infrastructure is uniquely positioned to help bring the Expo to the world,” he said.
Obood explained how accessing information held on global ‘clouds’ and being able to converse in real time with experts across the world would create an experience that has never been seen before.
“Dubai is already the major convention and meeting hub for the Middle East, Africa and Asia. This is partially because of our great shipping and aviation companies, hotels and conference venues. But it is also due to the confidence the global community has in our ICT infrastructure and the ability of multinational corporations to collaborate effectively with colleagues and peers outside the country when they are here. It has taken the country over seven years to develop, with the public and private sector working together to ensure that today more than 70 per cent of all homes are connected by fiber optic cables and the entire country can enjoy broadband access through their mobile devices,” he said.
Today, three million kilometres of fiber optic cable are installed across the UAE -— enough to reach the moon seven times and to wrap the world 75 times, he said. Due to advancements such as these, the FTTH (Fiber to the Home) Council declared the UAE as the country with the highest penetration of fiber to the home in 2012 and 2013. A recent research released by Google also revealed that the UAE has the highest penetration of advanced smart phones.
Obood said the UAE’s connectivity is helping other nations to bridge the digital divide.
“In 2009, we completed the TEAMS cable between the UAE and Kenya. This was the first physical connection between Africa and the world’s Internet community providing Kenya and its surrounding countries with more affordable broadband. Since then, we have partnered with other companies and governments in East Africa on other projects, particularly in Sudan and Tanzania, bringing a digital dividend of jobs and access to millions on the continent,” he said.
Prior to these projects, African countries relied largely on expensive satellite access for Internet.
The UAE’s telecommunications companies are connected to all major submarine networks travelling East and West providing full resiliency and sufficient bandwidth to manage the data requirements of innovators and researchers. It also has numerous ‘Earth Stations’ to help communicate to orbiting communications satellites, several of which the UAE and Etisalat have also invested to place in to orbit.
Etisalat’s Smart Hub was ranked one of the world’s top three innovations in international connectivity in 2011 by Ovum and today hosts many of the major Internet companies and content aggregators. Etisalat is also partnering with other regional operators to create the first terrestrial land cable between the UAE and cable routes in the Mediterranean Sea, which will further increase capacity and improve the experience.
“Today’s business is conducted at the speed of thought, and the way our infrastructure has been developed would ensure that during Dubai Expo 2020, ‘Connecting Minds and Creating the Future’ would be realised through an event that is truly global and inclusive,” Obood concluded.
Etisalat is one of the official bid partners of Expo 2020 and is helping raise awareness across its footprint in 15 countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Etisalat Group CEO Ahmad Julfar highlighted the commitment and efforts of UAE companies in international markets at the Africa Global Business Forum that took place in Dubai earlier this year.
A team of 12 employees, comprising ten nationalities including the UAE, Afghan, British, Canadian, Egyptian, Italian, Saudi Arabia, Tunisian, American and Pakistan, recently completed a highly publicised 2,100km bicycle tour of Europe to test new life-enhancing technologies, wearing livery featuring the official Dubai Expo 2020 logo.
Etisalat’s community activities in Sri Lanka have also featured on official Dubai Expo 2020 videos, specifically its Book Hubs and learning activities in rural parts of the country.
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