• e& is making the most of the Gitex Global spotlight
• It has announced multiple industry deals and partnerships
• Ericsson, Mavenir, Space42, LabLabee, and Netcracker are among the companies underpinning e&’s digital, security, B2B, satellite and 6G efforts

Middle East telco powerhouse e& has used the Gitex Global 2025 tech show at the Dubai Trade Centre in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is e&’s domestic market, to issue a stream of announcements and updates related to its digital platforms and services, from its 5G core and back-office IT systems to its satellite direct-to-device (D2D) and 6G strategies. 

The telco and technology company, which has 198 million subscribers across multiple Middle East, Asian, African and European markets, and which generated revenues of 34.9bn Emirati dirham ($9.5bn) in the first half of this year, has teamed up with Space42 to develop direct-to-device (D2D) services for the UAE market.

The agreement centres on the use of Equatys, a D2D venture between Space42 and satellite giant Viasat that is “designed to enable seamless 5.5G [5G-Advanced] connectivity across satellite and terrestrial networks,” noted the partners in this announcement. 

Space42 and Viasat unveiled their D2D-focused collaboration in September – see Viasat, Space42 prep D2D joint venture.

The collaboration will see e& UAE and Space42 jointly work on R&D, technical integration, regulatory, service development and infrastructure investment efforts. It also “supports both companies’ ambitions to expand D2D connectivity beyond traditional infrastructure and enhances the UAE’s leadership in advanced digital and space-enabled communications,” the partners noted. 

“The partnership will create a unified service and technology roadmap between Space42 and e&, paving the way for e& to become the lead mobile network operator for Equatys’s D2D services. Together, the companies aim to deliver a new generation of hybrid connectivity that supports digital economies, enterprise innovation, and inclusive growth,” they added, but no timeframe was provided for any potential trials or anticipated service launches. 

Looking even further ahead, e& UAE and New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) have jointly completed the first 6G Terahertz (THz) pilot in the Middle East, “achieving record-breaking throughput of 145 Gbit/s,” noted the partners in this press release. “The pilot validates the potential of THz frequencies to deliver ultra-high-capacity, ultra-low-latency links, enabling transformative use cases, such as holographic telepresence, extended reality (XR), terabit-class backhaul and digital twins,” they added. 

Marwan Bin Shaker, acting chief technology and information officer CTIO) at e& UAE, stated: “Achieving [the] 145 Gbit/s milestone is a breakthrough moment for the industry and for the UAE. This achievement demonstrates our ability to pioneer at the edge of technology, exploring the transformative potential of 6G to reimagine how people, businesses, and cities connect. Our collaboration with NYU Abu Dhabi underscores the critical role of academia–industry partnerships in shaping the future of connectivity.”

Those are only the latest in a slew of announcements from the Middle East giant. e& started the week by announcing a multi-year deal with Ericsson for the upgrade of its 5G core platform in the UAE and followed that by striking a four-year deal, once again with Ericsson, for the modernisation and expansion of e& Egypt’s core platform, supporting IT systems and BSS applications. 

Still in the core platform domain, e& UAE has also sourced a cloud-native spam, scam and fraud protection solution from Mavenir for its voice network. “CallShield is Mavenir’s advanced voice fraud prevention platform that uses AI-powered threat detection solutions, including call profiling, call sentiment analysis and call patterns validation to detect anomalies and block threats in real time,” noted Mavenir in this announcement. 

Khaled Al Suwaidi, senior VP of core networks and platforms at e& UAE, stated: “By bringing AI-driven voice security into the heart of our network, we can detect and stop scams in real time, reduce nuisance traffic for customers and protect businesses from the impact of nuisance communication and voice fraud. This is about trust as much as technology. CallShield helps us safeguard our customers, improve call answer rates and keep pace with evolving regulations, while laying the groundwork for a more autonomous network. Together with Mavenir, we will keep expanding these protections across voice and messaging so our customers stay better protected every day.”

And still in the telecom software world, e& UAE and Netcracker Technology have “achieved a production readiness milestone” in the deployment of “digital-native BSS solutions” that “deliver value across the lead-to-order process and automate the fulfillment process for large enterprise customers,” noted the vendor in this announcement. “As a result of the programme’s success, e& UAE can support end-to-end digital onboarding for new B2B customers and develop innovative and personalised products, creating a strong foundation for future advancements and aligning with applicable cybersecurity and data-protection standards,” added Netcracker. 

It’s worth noting, too, that e& also recently struck agreements with Honeywell and with Salesforce to advance its B2B service portfolio and the support of enterprise customers, respectively. In addition, it has agreed to work with Ericsson on the deployment of private 5G networks for enterprise customers across the UAE. 

In the network operations domain, e& UAE has teamed up with on-demand telco lab platform developer LabLabee to launch the AI Telco Copilot, an “AI-powered solution designed to help telecom engineers and operators accelerate their transition from legacy networks to cloud-native, AI-driven, multivendor ecosystems.” 

Marwan Bin Shakar, the acting CTIO at e& UAE, noted: “The launch of the first AI Telco Copilot in the region reflects our commitment to driving AI-powered telco transformation. By combining e& UAE’s advanced network capabilities with LabLabee’s innovative AI platform, we are empowering our engineers and operations teams to move faster, simplify complexity and accelerate the journey toward autonomous networks. This is a major step forward in enabling telcos to thrive in the AI era."

For the consumer market, e& Money, the fintech arm of e&, has teamed up with PayPal to “introduce account linking and instant withdrawals in the UAE,” the firm announced. “Once live, this collaboration will make e& Money the country’s first and only digital wallet that links directly to PayPal, giving users access to their balances in UAE dirhams (AED) through the e& money app.”

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV