Etisalat Teams on Smart City Vision

ABU DHABI -- Etisalat, the leading operator group in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and the GSMA, the association that represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, will hold an open industry event focusing on the M2M market. The two-day Summit, which will be held at the Novotel Dubai World Trade Centre on 19th-20th November, 2013, will address how mobile operators are working with governments and other organisations to unlock M2M’s potential in the region.

Regional mobile operators and telecoms vendors with an interest in the Connected Living and M2M market will hear from senior Government representatives, regulators, health, education, city leaders and other key officials about the state of the market and future opportunities in the region.

There will be a special focus on Dubai’s Smart City initiative, which was recently announced by HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Here operators will learn how Etisalat plans to build on its state-of-the-art infrastructure, technical expertise and coverage to enhance the quality of life for residents through improved environmental management, health care and education.

Khalifa Al Shamsi, Chief Digital Services Officer, at the Etisalat Group said: “Here in the UAE, as well as in other countries within our footprint in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, we are engaged in many projects to develop connected societies or smart cities. These will be empowered by fiber connectivity, high-speed mobile Internet and M2M technologies and applications. These innovations will add significant value to the communities we serve, including improved access to healthcare, education and government services. We are delighted to work with the GSMA to bring the latest of these innovations here to the region.”

“From health and education to transportation and smarter cities, mobile technology stands at the heart of a diverse number of industries, redefining our increasingly connected lives,” said Ana Tavares Lattibeaudiere, Head of Connected Living and Senior Director of Technology, Connected Living Programme, GSMA. “The total number of connected devices is expected to grow from 9 Billion to 25 Billion by 2020 according to Machina Research, and the GSMA aims to support this increase in connections throughout this period of huge growth whilst also stimulating a number of service trials and launches that will deliver a more connected life.”

Through the use of M2M technology Etisalat has helped companies eliminate more than 23,000 tonnes of unnecessary CO2 emissions over two years, by monitoring, streamlining and reducing energy usage through heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) at over 80 facilities in the UAE.

Earlier this year Etisalat, the GSMA and members of the pharmaceutical, ICT, healthcare, policy, patient advocacy and research ecosystem joined forces to test new M2M based healthcare solutions and conduct research to share with policy makers to encourage advances in mHealth. This ‘mHealth Grand Tour’, a 13-day cycling challenge from Brussels to Barcelona, raised awareness of how M2M-enabled healthcare can help monitor patients with diabetes, therefore providing an enhanced experience for patients themselves, parents, doctors and other responsible care providers.

Etisalat