The Covid-19 pandemic served as a wake-up call for telecoms operators, testing the capabilities of their digital services that are integral to remote work and study over the past year, the chief executive of Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company said.
The Dubai-based company, better known as du, acknowledged the challenges it faced as a result of Covid-19, but said it acted quickly to meet rising demand for digital solutions after offices, schools and businesses shifted their operations online in an effort to contain the coronavirus.
"The pandemic was a very good stress test for our digital capabilities. It showed our ability to manage serving our customers via digital channels without them having to go to our service centres," Fahad Al Hassawi told The National at Gitex Global in Dubai.
The Covid-19 pandemic hastened digital adoption in the UAE as homebound users flocked online to work, study and shop.
About 54 per cent of users surveyed by Mastercard in a study last year said that they expect the trend of online shopping to continue even after the pandemic eases.
"The pandemic taught us that there are other tools that work, such as buying products and availing services online. And it works and is convenient. This combination, along with the assurance that the quality you get is still good, made people change their behaviour," said Mr Al Hassawi, who was appointed chief executive in June.
"Naturally, all our customers are now having their own plans to improve their online capabilities. Everybody now understands why going digital is important."
The telecoms operator has also expanded its capacity since then to meet a surge in demand.
Last month, du opened two data centres, one in Abu Dhabi and the other in Dubai, to support enterprises in critical sectors such as finance, cloud services and government with next-generation digital infrastructure.
All our customers are now having their own plans to improve their online capabilities. Everybody now understands why going digital is important
Fahad Al Hassawi,
chief executive of Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company
Mr Al Hassawi, who believes demand for these services will continuously rise as more customers and providers take their content and services to the cloud, said both data centres were built with expansion plans with mind.
They were also designed for future capacity expansion when certain levels of data saturation are reached.
Founded in 2005, du is 50.12 per cent owned by the Emirates Investment Authority while Mubadala Investment Company and Emirates International Telecommunications hold 10.06 per cent and 19.7 per cent respectively. The remainder is in public hands.
Du, which became the second service provider in the region to announce the availability of fifth-generation services in 2019, is currently offering 5G connectivity to 90 per cent of the UAE's populated areas, with the figure at 96 per cent in Abu Dhabi and 97 per cent in Dubai.
Last week, the telecoms company reached a major milestone as its 5G network became the fastest in the UAE.
On October 7, du announced that it appointed Malek Sultan Al Malek as chairman of its board of directors.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
Multitasking pays off for money goals
Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.
That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.
"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.
Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."
People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.
"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."
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yallacompare profile
Date of launch: 2014
Founder: Jon Richards, founder and chief executive; Samer Chebab, co-founder and chief operating officer, and Jonathan Rawlings, co-founder and chief financial officer
Based: Media City, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: 120 employees
Investors: 2014: $500,000 in a seed round led by Mulverhill Associates; 2015: $3m in Series A funding led by STC Ventures (managed by Iris Capital), Wamda and Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority; 2019: $8m in Series B funding with the same investors as Series A along with Precinct Partners, Saned and Argo Ventures (the VC arm of multinational insurer Argo Group)
