Etisalat, Huawei ink consultancy services deal

UAE-based telecoms group Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) has signed a new global consultancy services agreement with Huawei to enhance the operator’s broadband and digital services. The agreement was announced at the Mobile World Congress 2013 event taking place this week in Barcelona, and marks one of the largest ever consultancy services agreements between the two companies. Under the agreement, Huawei’s business consulting team will partner with Etisalat stakeholders to assist in further advancing the operator’s mobile broadband services as well as its digital services portfolio. The primary objective of the agreement will be to support Etisalat in further enhancing its profitability through new traffic monetisation schemes, premium customer-support solutions and cooperation on go-to-market strategies for new Etisalat services. It will include cooperation on Etisalat projects such as recent investments in 4G LTE mobile networks and Etisalat over-the-top (OTT) media offerings. ‘This agreement continues a long and successful history of collaboration between both companies and presents us with a win-win situation,’ said Etisalat Group’s CEO Ahmad Abdulkarim Julfar, adding: ‘With a large and growing global presence of over 139 million customers in 15 countries, Etisalat Group has built up a large and talented international workforce. This agreement will enable us to further collaborate to bolster the international expertise that already exists in the group.’