5G opens up opportunities for UAE telecom
5G has opened up a world of opportunities for telecom operators spurring innovation across many industries to provide a platform enabling emergent technologies to become an integral part of economy and lifestyle, says a top official of Etisalat Group.
Eng Saleh Abdullah Al Abdooli, chief executive officer of Etisalat Group, said 5G is expected to open growth opportunities for the telecom industry with forecast global revenues to touch $2.2 trillion in the next 10 years.
"Etisalat is well geared for the future offering high capacity solutions enabling new possibilities. We are working closely across different sectors in the adoption of 5G solutions mainly energy, manufacturing, healthcare, real estate and property," Abdooli told Khaleej Times ahead of Gitex Technology Week, which starts today.
He said technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics will facilitate remote monitoring, analysing real time data, bring energy efficiency and enable autonomous transportation." Abdooli said Gitex Technology Week is recognised as the most important technology event in the region offering a unique platform to showcase to the world our advancements, new cutting-edge solutions and technologies.
'5G A World without Limits' is etisalat's theme this year bringing to life innovative use cases across industry verticals like mobility, retail, healthcare, manufacturing, aviation, energy and logistics, he said.
"Inspired by our strategy of 'Driving the Digital Future to Empower Societies' we are showcasing 5G powered innovations that will take visitors on a journey of the future, where they will witness the impossible of the past, which has become the reality of today.
"We are also demonstrating AI, robotics, IoT, AR and VR technologies that will take centre stage like autonomous transportation in mobility, robotics in healthcare, underskin implants in the retail area and a unique 5G VR experience in entertainment. Many of these technology showcases are making their presence for the first time globally on our stand during Gitex," he said. Abdooli said 5G today has opened up a world of opportunities for telecom operators across the globe and etisalat is fully ready to calpitalise on growth options.
"Our success in 5G was not built overnight but due to our long term planning and investments in our infrastructure, first trials and strategic partnerships started as far back as 2014."
He said etisalat set a major benchmark in the industry by becoming the first telco in Mena in May 2018 to launch the commercial 5G network providing fixed wireless service in the UAE. This was followed by another major substantial breakthrough in our 5G journey by connecting and partnering with Expo 2020 as the first major commercial customer in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region to access 5G services. Etisalat connected Expo 2020 Dubai to its network.