Etisalat will also soon extend its fixed-line and broadband services to both individual and business customers who currently do not have access to Etisalat’s wide array of services.

Etisalat will now be able to expand its reach within Dubai free zones like Dubai Internet City, Tecom and the new residential areas through products and services that provide a superior value from the services that are currently available to them, a statement said.

“Etisalat welcomes true competition in the UAE,” said Abdulla Hashim, senior vice president, business solutions at Etisalat.

“This is a progressive step that will provide a rightful choice to our customers and open up the market to become more technologically innovative and customer centric. Etisalat, with its promise of providing unmatched value and superior service to its existing and new customers, looks forward to expand its footprint in the new locations in Dubai.”

“Infrastructure sharing is also encouraging news from an enterprise perspective, since businesses now will have a wider choice of ICT services, based on technology capabilities and intellectual expertise, rather than limited to service availability within a specific location,” he added.

“Etisalat looks forward to offer enhanced ICT services to business customers in the free zone areas like Dubai Internet City and Tecom.”

Etisalat has invested more than Dh5 billion ($1.36 billion) in its fiber-optic network to offer the region’s fastest broadband Internet speeds of up to 30 Mbps, advanced high definition voice services and next generation TV services such as 3D, through its eLife bundles, to its customers, the statement said.

“Etisalat is geared to be the first in the region to complete its nation-wide fiber-network in 2011, therefore distinguishing our customers with unique home entertainment possibilities and placing them amongst advanced device users globally. This is yet just the beginning of Etisalat’s innovation and value pyramid,” Hashim continued.

“We currently offer broadband access speeds of up to 100 Mbps for our business customers and may soon extend the highest-speed in the region to our individual eLife customers, coupled with voice minutes of use and many more value-added services.”

“We welcome the move to share Etisalat’s fiber-network with competition, a move which is rightly aimed towards accelerating the nation’s telecommunication progress on the back of our robust fiber-optic network,” Hashim concluded. – TradeArabia News Service