Etisalat announced its new CEOs

Etisalat has announced two new company CEOs. The Etisalat Board of Directors has appointed Saleh Al Abdooli as the chief executive officer for Etisalat UAE and Saeed Al Hamli as chief executive officer for Etisalat Misr, effective from April 2012.

Saleh Al Abdooli

Al Abdooli has been the CEO of Etisalat Misr for the last five years and during this time in Egypt, he has earned several international awards as a leader of one of the best third entrants in mobile operation worldwide. He has achieved remarkable results in the mature Egyptian market that had been dominated by Vodafone and Orange (Mobinil).

"Etisalat Group enjoys a wealth of experienced leaders that achieved series of great successes starting since it has started expanding into international investment back in 2004. Etisalat also has invested heavily and continuously in the development of its human capital which is the cornerstone of its success. Today the number of UAE nationals employed in Etisalat's foreign operations exceeds 70 UAE citizens," said Mohamed Omran, chairman of Etisalat.

According to Etisalat, Al Abdooli has demonstrated the ability to meet and exceed challenging business objectives in an extremely tough business environment and led Etisalat Misr from a startup operator to a full-fledged market competitor. Etisalat Misr today covers 99% of the populated areas in Egypt with its 2G/3G networks and leads the market in 3G Broadband subscriber.

Saeed Al Hamli is now chief of Etisalat Misr, in which Etisalat owns a 66 percent stake. The new Etisalat Misr CEO, Al Hamli has worked both inside and outside the UAE, and worked as the CEO of Etisalat Afghanistan between 2007 and 2011, where he achieved excellent business and operational results.

"Saeed is one of the great Etisalat leaders with a proven track record. He is the right person for the Egyptian. Al Hamli, who comes from diverse technical and commercial backgrounds, enjoys more than 20 years of experience in the telecom industry. Since he joined Etisalat in 1991, he has held a range of managerial and executive positions and demonstrated remarkable performance," said Ahmed Julfar, Etisalat Group CEO.

Earlier this month, Etisalat appointed Jamal al Jarwan as the its new chief regional officer for Asia and analysts expect the operator will also appoint heads for Africa and the Middle East.

Last August, Ahmad Julfar became group chief executive while in December Daniel Ritz appointed chief strategy officer and Serkan Okandan group chief financial officer. Matthew Willsher joined as chief marketing officer last year.

UAE's Etisalat cut its GCC roaming tariff by more than 26 percent

Etisalat has reduced its GCC roaming tariffs by as much as 26 per cent on outgoing calls made when travelling within the GCC countries, the telecom operator announced in a statement on Tuesday.

The cut brings etisalat's charges down to those of du, the firm's competitor.

The new rates, which takes effect today, apply to both prepaid and postpaid customers.

When an etisalat prepaid or postpaid customer in the GCC makes an outgoing voice call to the UAE or any other Gulf country, he or she will be charged Dh2.40 per minute compared to what was previously charged — Dh3 for postpaid and Dh3.25 for prepaid.

For example, whilst roaming on Mobily or on any mobile network in Saudi Arabia, an etisalat customer calling Oman or Bahrain will get charged at a flat rate of Dh2.40 per minute," etisalat explained in its statement.

Hasan Sandila, a telecom analyst at IDC, told Gulf News that the telecom operator's decision to decrease its GCC roaming rates is primarily due to "intense competition" with du.

"This decrease in tariff would essentially mean that UAE travellers will now choose an operator for roaming entirely on the basis of quality of service and coverage rather than pricing, since GCC roaming charges for both operators are the same now," Sandila said.

"This move can also be seen as etisalat's focus on its customer retention strategy for business customers," he said, adding that it will intensify competition among the enterprise segment, especially when mobile subscribers in this region undertake significant intra-region travelling for business purposes.

Similarly, while roaming, all outgoing local calls within the country visited will now be at Dh1 per minute, compared to the previous Dh1.30 per minute.

"Thee new offers follow reductions in cost from GCC roaming partners and we are pleased to pass on the value to our customers," etisalat said in an emailed statement to Gulf News.

The new tariff requires no subscription as it will be applied on default when a customer travels to any GCC country and makes phone calls using a GCC roaming partner network.

Etisalat currently has roaming network partnerships with nearly 650 networks for voice in 190 countries.

(C) Gulf News