China Mobile to offer ICT services in Mideast
World’s largest mobile network operator opens Dubai office to bring its innovations
China Mobile Communications Corporation, the world’s largest mobile carrier by subscribers, has entered the UAE market to provide information and communication technology (ICT) services in collaboration with etisalat and du.
The Hong Kong-headquartered company’s subsidiary — China Mobile International (CMI) — opened its Middle East office at Dubai Internet City yesterday. Li Feng, chairman and chief executive officer of China Mobile International (CMI, said that China maintains close ties with the UAE and the Middle East.
“With the opening of the office, we can bridge the gap between China and the Middle East. With the support of the government and local companies, we can share resources and improve the 5G, IoT [Internet of Things], Big Data and AI [Artificial Intelligence] operations to end users in the region,” he said.
China Mobile is etisalat and du’s international roaming partners and the world’s largest mobile network operator with 912 million customers, followed by Vodafone with close to 500 million customers and Airtel with close to 400 million customers.
“We aim to bring more Chinese enterprises to the Middle East and the Middle East enterprises to Chinese markets,” said Li.
In line with the Belt and Road Initiative to build trade routes between China and the countries in Central Asia, Europe and Indo-Pacific countries, he said that there are a lot of Chinese enterprises here and there is a need to support them and give them the same level of services they are provided in China.
Moreover, he said the key objective is to work closely with carriers here to offer better services to both Chinese and non-Chinese companies.
Attracting innovators
Being a market leader, Ammar Malek, managing director of Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource City, said that China Mobile fits directly with the objective of attracting disrupters and innovators.
“We are pleased to have a lot of Chinese companies at the Dubai Internet City. We look forward to seeing the results of increased interactive between Chinese technology companies and Chinese global fronts to accelerate the success between the two countries and ensuring that the UAE becomes one of the most advanced economies in the world,” he said.