etisalat is making a big push in Africa to leapfrog the communications gap by blanketing the continent with high-speed links, the chairman of the UAE telecom company has announced.
Mohammad Hassan Omran said at a conference here that the company has earmarked $5.5 billion (Dh20.2 billion) – with an additional war chest of $5 billion (Dh18.3 billion) waiting for action – to build submarine cables, wireless internet and mobile phone networks in the continent with nearly 890 million people.
"At the moment, we have already poured $4.1 billion [Dh15 billion] in the east and $1.4 billion [Dh5.1 billion] in the west [Africa]. New technologies will help raise the economic level in these countries along with education initiatives such as Dubai Cares," said Omran.
"We'd love to go everywhere in Africa," he said.
etisalat is on an expansion binge with more than 33 million subscribers in 15 countries made through acquisitions and investments of more than Dh30 billion. Out of those 15 countries, 12 are in Africa.
etisalat, which has three submarine cable ships, is also a key player in The East African Marine Systems (TEAMS) project, which will lay down high-speed fibre-optic submarine cables on its eastern shores, bypassed by globe-spanning cables that form the backbone of the internet.
"Telecommunications enhance education, health, trade and stability," said Omran. "As soon as Somalia stabilises, we'll be there."
Linking Part:
- etisalat currently operates in Benin, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Gabon, Nigeria, Niger, Sudan, Tanzania and Togo, in addition to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.
- etisalat is set to commence services in Nigeria on March 2008.
- etisalat has more than three million subscribers in Egypt.
