Etisalat announces 5G and AI partnership with Microsoft

UAE telco, Etisalat, has announced a multi-year partnership with Microsoft, to facilitate the evolution of its public cloud first strategy. The deal will allow Etisalat to continue to develop its digital network platform, using a host of artificial intelligence (AI) and process automation initiatives.

Etisalat’s next generation mobile networks will use the Microsoft Azure suite of services to facilitate a range of capabilities, including mobile edge computing and network edge computing, effectively turbo charging speeds at the edge of Etisalat’s network.

Saeed Al Zarouni, senior VP for Mobile Networks at Etisalat, said, “Keeping in line with our overall strategy and vision of ‘Driving the Digital Future to Empower Societies, Etisalat has transitioned to a digital service provider of choice for digital services among enterprises and SMB customers, enabling them to monetise services to generate new revenue streams. Together with Microsoft, we are building the communications network of the future.”

“Our partnership with Etisalat is further demonstration of the trust regional enterprises place in the intelligent Microsoft Cloud,” said Sayed Hashish, general manager, Microsoft UAE.

“Our mission is to empower every individual and organisation on the planet to achieve more. Etisalat’s digital transformation journey centres on a public-cloud-first strategy including network workloads. Its partnership with Microsoft is designed to merge its telecommunications capabilities with our intelligent cloud solutions, including artificial intelligence and self-healing networks.”