Etisalat Group: A Leading Telecom Company in UAE

This essay provides an overview of Etisalat Group, a leading telecom company in UAE. It discusses the company's market position, major competitors in Egypt, and its international presence. The essay also analyzes the economic and high-end brand value of Etisalat.

Etisalat Group
Essay
System04104
5/9/2019

Introduction
Etisalat is a subsidiary company of Emirates Telecommunication Corporation. Etisalat is one
the leading telecom company of UAE. Etisalat is a continuously increasing its market share
worldwide with AED 148 billion of current market cap. The company’s combined net
revenue was AED 52.4 billion and consolidated net profit was AED 8.6 billion in 2018.
Etisalat was established almost four decades ago and it’s headquarter situated in Abu Dhabi,
Dubai. In 2018, Company launched its first 5G service in UAE (Middle East) and North
Africa1.
Major competitors of Etisalat in Egypt
In Egypt, more than 95 million people are connected with three telecom companies:
Vodafone Egypt, Orange Egypt, and Etisalat Egypt. Therefore, there are two major
competitors of Etisalat in Egypt. Etisalat covers 26% of market share in Egypt after Vodafone
Egypt (42%). Etisalat operates its business in Egypt under the name of Etisalat Misr2.
First major competitor of Etisalat is Vodafone Egypt, which covers more than 42% of
customers in Egypt. Vodafone Egypt is the largest mobile networking company in Egypt and
known for its worldwide services. Vodafone Egypt was launched in 1998 under the name of
‘Click GSM’. Although, it has a major market in all over the world but it also covers more
than 40% market in Egypt. Vodafone Egypt is providing various services to its customers
such as 3G, 4G, 5G, ADSL, and broadband internet services to its customers.
The second major competitor of Etisalat is Orange Egypt, which covers 25% of market share
in Egypt. Orange Egypt almost giving strong competition to the Etisalat Misr and the
company has almost equal market share with Etisalat Misr.
Where Etisalat stands in International Market?
Etisalat is one of the leading telecommunication companies in the world. It provides its
services in 15 countries. Etisalat operates its business across the Asia, Middle East, and
Africa. Etisalat is the 14th largest telecommunication company across the world and it has
more than 167 million customers3. The company was awarded one of the most powerful
companies in UAE by Forbes in 2012. In the Middle East countries, Etisalat provides
connectivity to other companies for internet services. In other words, it is serving as an
Internet Hub in the Middle –East countries.4 The USP of the company is to provide ‘right
1 Amirah, El-Haddad, ‘Welfare gains from utility reforms in Egyptian telecommunications’, (2017) 45 (2) Utilities Policy 1-
26.
2 Durga Prasad, Samontaray, and Abdulrahman Al-Aali, ‘Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) 8330’, (2016) 24 (1/2) Journal of
Competitiveness Studies 62.
3 Kamoru Oluwatoyin, Kadiri, and Samuel Oluwaseun Lawal, ‘Comparative Analysis of Per Second Billing System of
GLO, MTN, Etisalat, Airtel and Visafone in Nigeria’, (2019) 4 (5) Current Journal of Applied Science and Technology 1-8.
4 Harold Dennis Harlow, ‘Vodafone Egypt (B), managing corporate cultural change and organizational performance’, (2016)
6 (4) Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies 1-17.

service to the right audience at the right time in right market.” However, the brand quality of
Etisalat can be analysed under the following points.
Economic Brand: The services of Etisalat in Dubai are economic. It provides quality
services to its customer in low prices. However, the services of broadband in other countries
like Egypt is little costlier than UAE market. However, the price is comparatively low in
compare to Vodafone and Orange Egypt. The broadband Internet services of the company are
still low for the customers in Egypt market.
High End Brand: Etisalat has high-end brand value because it adopts high quality market
strategy for its expansion and growth. It operates in more than 14 countries and it makes its
brand visible for every people in these countries5. The company provides quality services to
its customers. The company is currently working on innovation and establishing reliability
among the international and domestic operators. It enhances its brand images in both
domestic and international market. The Etisalat provides best customer experience to the
users and also giving attractive returns to its shareholders in same time. These all facilities of
the companies improve its brand image in both domestic and international market.
ETISALAT
Economic Brand No
High End Brand Yes
Quality Brand Yes
Cheap Brand No
Quality Brand: The product and services of Etisalat in Egypt and other countries is quality
wise very good. However, if we compare the services of Etisalat in Egypt, then we found that
it has more call drop issues than Vodafone. However, the company provide cheap plans for
customers but networking is still an issue for the customers. While mobile network of
Vodafone is stronger than Etisalat6.
Cheap Brand: Etisalat is comparatively cheaper products and services to those companies,
which are operating business in UAE. However, in Egypt Vodafone provides more quality
services in cheap prices. Although, Etisalat is known for their low cost broadband services
and it is continuously reducing broadband tariff prices to connect new customers in the Egypt
market.
5 Nahed, Amin Azab, et al., ‘A strategic use of technology: case of Vodafone Egypt’, (2016) 6 (3) Emerald Emerging
Markets Case Studies 1-16.
6 Bambang, Santoso, ‘Fitur Notifikasi untuk Sistem Monitoring Mesin Pelayanan Pelanggan (Studi Kasus di Etisalat
Corporation; Abu Dhabi)’, (2017) 2 (2) Jurnal Informatika Universitas Pamulang 81-88.

Bibliography
Harlow, Harold Dennis, ‘Vodafone Egypt (B), managing corporate cultural change and
organizational performance’, (2016) 6 (4) Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies 1-17.
Amin Azab, Nahed, et al., ‘A strategic use of technology: case of Vodafone Egypt’, (2016) 6
(3) Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies 1-16.
El-Haddad, Amirah, ‘Welfare gains from utility reforms in Egyptian telecommunications’,
(2017) 45 (2) Utilities Policy 1-26.
Kadiri, Kamoru Oluwatoyin, and Samuel Oluwaseun Lawal, ‘Comparative Analysis of Per
Second Billing System of GLO, MTN, Etisalat, Airtel and Visafone in Nigeria’, (2019) 4
(5) Current Journal of Applied Science and Technology 1-8.
Samontaray, Durga Prasad, and Abdulrahman Al-Aali, ‘Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) 8330’,
(2016) 24 (1/2) Journal of Competitiveness Studies 62.
Santoso, Bambang, ‘Fitur Notifikasi untuk Sistem Monitoring Mesin Pelayanan Pelanggan
(Studi Kasus di Etisalat Corporation; Abu Dhabi)’, (2017) 2 (2) Jurnal Informatika
Universitas Pamulang 81-88.