Fastest network powers Expo 2020
Visitors will enjoy a seamless experience that is built exclusively on premise to serve all the participating pavilions
Etisalat has built a dedicated modern network for Expo 2020 Dubai to meet its exclusive requirements and provide telecom services for the millions of visitors expected from around the world throughout the six-month event, its top official says.
Masood M Sharif Mahmood, chief executive officer of Etisalat UAE, said Expo is probably the most important event of cultural exchange and a catalyst for millions around the world bringing national and international exposure to numerous inventions.
“This event allows people travelling from across the globe to witness history in the making, with this unique celebration. Visitors at the biggest world are connected to the fastest, smartest and most connected place on earth,” Mahmood told Khaleej Times during an interview on the sidelines of Gitex Technology Week.
He said Expo visitors will enjoy a seamless, cutting-edge, immersive digital experience with a state-of-the-art network that is highly available and resilient built exclusively on premise to serve the requirements of Expo 2020, all the participating pavilions and visitors.
“Etisalat’s network at the global event provides high-density coverage with access points particularly targeted at enhancing the digital experience for visitors with technologies such as AR/VR. Services being hosted on the private and public clouds is one of the key priorities to provide fast connectivity between Expo 2020, its site offices, partners, public and enterprise services,” he said.
As the official telecom and digital services partner, he said etisalat is committed to provide a seamless services to Expo visitors.
“People visiting Expo 2020 Dubai will enjoy a network that is secure and reliable with low latency covering the area of 4.38sqkm. This was possible due to the deployment of over 8,500 mobile access points, over 8,000 Wi-fi access points, 700km fiber optic connectivity, more than 800km cabling for mobile indoor and Wifi network across exhibition and pavilion areas providing the highest throughput, capacity and seamless smart connectivity,” he said.
Expo 2020 Dubai is etisalat’s first commercial 5G enterprise customer in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region to access 5G services. The site has more than 700km of highly resilient and multi-redundant fiber network, which is four times the distance between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Fiber cables will have the ability to provide more bandwidth for carrying more data. Mahmood said etisalat’s focus has been about moving from digital first to digital throughout by driving AI and automation, revitalising digital customer experience with increasing use of AI in customer interactions and evolve capabilities to support new value propositions.
“Customer care is one of the areas where technologies like speech, video analytics and robotics are used in back office automation to enhance the customer journey. Currently, there are several use cases identified and underway to bring this digital experience to reality,” he said.
In reply to a question, he said there are robots automating back office processes conducting more than 800k transactions on a monthly basis. “Robotic process automation has brought about 98 per cent efficiency enabling employees to become creative, innovative and connect with customers to enhance their experience,” he said.
“Blockchain technologies is another area we see immense potential that helps in cutting down intermediaries, costs, increase speed and reach offering transparency and traceability of business processes,” he added.