etisalat offers realty management services

Dubai: etisalat will offer fac-ilities and real estate management services to the private sector throughout the United Arab Emirates to diversify its non-core business units, the company said yesterday.

The expanding real estate market has attracted the attention of the tele-communications firm just as it completed a restructuring and created Etisalat Services Holding. The holding company manages the company's real estate and facilities management operations, which will now begin marketing themselves to the private sector. The company may also begin leasing office space to outside firms.

"We see the market growing for facilities management, as the value of new projects underway is huge," Ahmad Ebrahim Al Jarwan, general manager of etisalat's real estate unit, told Gulf News during the Cityscape property show.
Al Jarwan said in-house facilities management units will target the growing demand for real estate services, which have risen through a rising tide of new commercial space being developed.

etisalat may also lease unused office space at its 12 office towers throughout the country to private firms. In a leaflet, etisalat said its office space was equipped with "cutting edge telecommunications technologies and supervised around the clock to ensure friendly and inconvenience free working ambience for businesses.

Expertise

etisalat, which manages thousands of telecom and office space-related buildings throughout the country already, was capable of offering its expertise in building management, air conditioning, power plant management, electro-mechanical, and cleaning.

Etisalat Services Holding was created in late 2006 and its facilities management unit set up a few months later. In addition, the holding company manages a smart card factory, marine cabling operations, Etisalat Academy, international telecom clearinghouse subsidiary EDCH, and other special projects and services.