MWC25: Group CEO lifts the lid on e&'s success and future growth strategy
By Tony Poulos
Mar 5, 2025
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Tony Poulos, TelecomTV (00:06):
Hi, Tony Poulos here at Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona. Today I have the great honor of being with Hatem Dowidar, who is the group CEO of e&. Mr. Dowidar, welcome. It's great to catch up with you today. Look, it's been three years since Etisalat became e& and the company adopted a new broader technology and investment strategy. Can you give us a progress report?
Hatem Dowidar, e& (00:32):
I think we're very happy with the pivot we have done as telecoms. Sometime we forget the amount of customer trust that we have. So we have a huge customer base that trusts us and we have an ongoing relationship. And this gives us the right to play into many adjacencies. As an industry, we have been constantly disrupted. I've been in the industry for very long. Decades ago we used to have SMS as the key revenue contributor. That's gone. Even voice is gone. We've been to a great extent, use to a data pipe, just bits passing through the network. But using our customer base, we think we can do a lot more, and we see it in our numbers. Our numbers have been improving year over year. Have things worked out as you hoped and expected? I think it's working up even a little bit better than expected. We are very ambitious, but we are really rewarded by the trust we have from our customers and the fact that not many operators are doing this. So when we do it, we find that we can build partnerships very fast, and that even helps us accelerate further.
Tony Poulos, TelecomTV (01:38):
Communication services are increasingly vital to every economy, yet many telcos appear to be struggling to grow their business and achieve a strong return on investment. Why do you think that is?
Hatem Dowidar, e& (01:49):
I think it's a level of ambition, and I think also it's the concentration in the markets. So we see some markets, and especially in Europe for example, with four or five players, that doesn't allow for the economy of scale to be able to invest enough to have good quality of service and then invest in additional businesses. But in markets, for example, the us, which is a huge economy with only three operators or China, huge economy with two operators, there is enough money for the operators to get returns of investment, invest for the future generations, and also be able to invest in some of the adjacencies.
Tony Poulos, TelecomTV (02:32):
How has the recent surge in AI engagement impacting your strategy and how are you considering Ian's role in the AI era? Do you need to invest in and manage a portfolio of data centers? For example?
Hatem Dowidar, e& (02:46):
Look,
(02:46):
AI has many components. So AI needs connectivity, needs energy and needs. The chip sets. So the operators, by having the connectivity have a right to be part of that ecosystem.
(02:59):
And then the other thing, as I talked about in the consumer space, is the customer affinity. Also, that is true in the enterprise space. There are many customers, especially small companies, that cannot have a chief AI officer or do their own AI program. So as a telco, having this customer base, we can do for them what they cannot do on their own. So this is really a great opportunity for telcos. So
(03:25):
AI I think is divided into two parts. One is the operation efficiency, so having more efficient networks, having a better sales, better customer care. And this is, I think to a great extent working now. The part that is now we are building, and I think a few of the, let's say leading telcos are doing is the part where we use the opportunity of AI to generate additional revenues by building data centers, providing AI and computing as a service, consulting the small customers using the data sets, we have to sell opportunities to customers to optimize their business. So this is the opportunity that's still untapped.
Tony Poulos, TelecomTV (04:06):
Of course, no company can do everything itself. Which types of companies are the most important partners and collaborators? For Ian?
Hatem Dowidar, e& (04:13):
Look, we work with everyone. We work with the hyperscalers. We have great relationships with AWS and Microsoft. We work also with, let's say, the companies that invents the actual hardware, like Qualcomm for example. And we do a lot with Qualcomm, with Cisco. And of course we deal a lot with system integrators and other companies. Of course, the infrastructure vendors that we have, the partners like Ericsson, Nokia, and Hui are also very important. So it's a very rich ecosystem where we deal with a lot of people and it's impossible to say that we'll do everything on our own. But I think where we find is very important that in the relationship with the customers, we try to stay on the front of that relationship with the customer and not at the back of it.
Tony Poulos, TelecomTV (05:04):
And how do you plan to grow the influence that Ian has on the international digital tech sector?
Hatem Dowidar, e& (05:09):
What can we expect next from, and it's very hard to tell you what's next because then it would not be a surprise to anyone. But I think where we can really grow is by always capitalizing on our customer base, our amazing infrastructure in the countries where we operate. And by sometimes competing with the tech sector, sometimes cooperating with them. We forge a part for ourselves. I think if we are just thinking of ourselves as a bit pipe, we will remain a bit pipe. But we think of ourselves a lot more. We think of ourselves as a tech company now, and by doing that we will always find the right opportunities to cooperate with partners.
Tony Poulos, TelecomTV (05:50):
And we know the telecom sector is still trying to get 5G, right? But the noise around six G is getting a bit louder. What is Ian's view of six G? Does e& have or need a six G strategy right now?
Hatem Dowidar, e& (06:04):
We are actually working to understand what will be the capabilities and the positive impact that six G will have. We were the first operator to have 3G in our region, first to have 4G and the first to have commercial 5G. So we believe in being at the early stage of a technology allows you to do it much better because you accumulate learnings a lot faster than some of the other players. And this has allowed us, for example, that for the past number of years, according to Ola speed test, we have the fastest mobile network in the world. And we have been consistently keeping it because we are always on the forefront of technology. So we have teams that are working on six G, understanding what are the different options, research spectrum and so on, to make sure that we also put our inputs as part of that formation of these new design and new specs for six G. So I expect when six G comes, same previous technologies will be at the forefront of it and will be one of the first to do it.
Tony Poulos, TelecomTV (07:06):
Mr. Dowidar, this has been a very enlightening session. Thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you.
Hatem Dowidar, e& (07:12):
Thank you. It was a wonderful conversation.
Hi, Tony Poulos here at Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona. Today I have the great honor of being with Hatem Dowidar, who is the group CEO of e&. Mr. Dowidar, welcome. It's great to catch up with you today. Look, it's been three years since Etisalat became e& and the company adopted a new broader technology and investment strategy. Can you give us a progress report?
Hatem Dowidar, e& (00:32):
I think we're very happy with the pivot we have done as telecoms. Sometime we forget the amount of customer trust that we have. So we have a huge customer base that trusts us and we have an ongoing relationship. And this gives us the right to play into many adjacencies. As an industry, we have been constantly disrupted. I've been in the industry for very long. Decades ago we used to have SMS as the key revenue contributor. That's gone. Even voice is gone. We've been to a great extent, use to a data pipe, just bits passing through the network. But using our customer base, we think we can do a lot more, and we see it in our numbers. Our numbers have been improving year over year. Have things worked out as you hoped and expected? I think it's working up even a little bit better than expected. We are very ambitious, but we are really rewarded by the trust we have from our customers and the fact that not many operators are doing this. So when we do it, we find that we can build partnerships very fast, and that even helps us accelerate further.
Tony Poulos, TelecomTV (01:38):
Communication services are increasingly vital to every economy, yet many telcos appear to be struggling to grow their business and achieve a strong return on investment. Why do you think that is?
Hatem Dowidar, e& (01:49):
I think it's a level of ambition, and I think also it's the concentration in the markets. So we see some markets, and especially in Europe for example, with four or five players, that doesn't allow for the economy of scale to be able to invest enough to have good quality of service and then invest in additional businesses. But in markets, for example, the us, which is a huge economy with only three operators or China, huge economy with two operators, there is enough money for the operators to get returns of investment, invest for the future generations, and also be able to invest in some of the adjacencies.
Tony Poulos, TelecomTV (02:32):
How has the recent surge in AI engagement impacting your strategy and how are you considering Ian's role in the AI era? Do you need to invest in and manage a portfolio of data centers? For example?
Hatem Dowidar, e& (02:46):
Look,
(02:46):
AI has many components. So AI needs connectivity, needs energy and needs. The chip sets. So the operators, by having the connectivity have a right to be part of that ecosystem.
(02:59):
And then the other thing, as I talked about in the consumer space, is the customer affinity. Also, that is true in the enterprise space. There are many customers, especially small companies, that cannot have a chief AI officer or do their own AI program. So as a telco, having this customer base, we can do for them what they cannot do on their own. So this is really a great opportunity for telcos. So
(03:25):
AI I think is divided into two parts. One is the operation efficiency, so having more efficient networks, having a better sales, better customer care. And this is, I think to a great extent working now. The part that is now we are building, and I think a few of the, let's say leading telcos are doing is the part where we use the opportunity of AI to generate additional revenues by building data centers, providing AI and computing as a service, consulting the small customers using the data sets, we have to sell opportunities to customers to optimize their business. So this is the opportunity that's still untapped.
Tony Poulos, TelecomTV (04:06):
Of course, no company can do everything itself. Which types of companies are the most important partners and collaborators? For Ian?
Hatem Dowidar, e& (04:13):
Look, we work with everyone. We work with the hyperscalers. We have great relationships with AWS and Microsoft. We work also with, let's say, the companies that invents the actual hardware, like Qualcomm for example. And we do a lot with Qualcomm, with Cisco. And of course we deal a lot with system integrators and other companies. Of course, the infrastructure vendors that we have, the partners like Ericsson, Nokia, and Hui are also very important. So it's a very rich ecosystem where we deal with a lot of people and it's impossible to say that we'll do everything on our own. But I think where we find is very important that in the relationship with the customers, we try to stay on the front of that relationship with the customer and not at the back of it.
Tony Poulos, TelecomTV (05:04):
And how do you plan to grow the influence that Ian has on the international digital tech sector?
Hatem Dowidar, e& (05:09):
What can we expect next from, and it's very hard to tell you what's next because then it would not be a surprise to anyone. But I think where we can really grow is by always capitalizing on our customer base, our amazing infrastructure in the countries where we operate. And by sometimes competing with the tech sector, sometimes cooperating with them. We forge a part for ourselves. I think if we are just thinking of ourselves as a bit pipe, we will remain a bit pipe. But we think of ourselves a lot more. We think of ourselves as a tech company now, and by doing that we will always find the right opportunities to cooperate with partners.
Tony Poulos, TelecomTV (05:50):
And we know the telecom sector is still trying to get 5G, right? But the noise around six G is getting a bit louder. What is Ian's view of six G? Does e& have or need a six G strategy right now?
Hatem Dowidar, e& (06:04):
We are actually working to understand what will be the capabilities and the positive impact that six G will have. We were the first operator to have 3G in our region, first to have 4G and the first to have commercial 5G. So we believe in being at the early stage of a technology allows you to do it much better because you accumulate learnings a lot faster than some of the other players. And this has allowed us, for example, that for the past number of years, according to Ola speed test, we have the fastest mobile network in the world. And we have been consistently keeping it because we are always on the forefront of technology. So we have teams that are working on six G, understanding what are the different options, research spectrum and so on, to make sure that we also put our inputs as part of that formation of these new design and new specs for six G. So I expect when six G comes, same previous technologies will be at the forefront of it and will be one of the first to do it.
Tony Poulos, TelecomTV (07:06):
Mr. Dowidar, this has been a very enlightening session. Thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you.
Hatem Dowidar, e& (07:12):
Thank you. It was a wonderful conversation.
Please note that video transcripts are provided for reference only – content may vary from the published video or contain inaccuracies.
Hatem Dowidar, Group CEO, e&
It’s been three years since Etisalat became e&. In this interview, Group CEO Hatem Dowidar gives us a progress report and explains how the recent surge in AI engagement is having an impact on the company’s strategy. While coy about how e& will influence the international digital tech sector, he opened up about the company’s 6G strategy.
Recorded March 2025
