Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation
Company Insights

Etisalat / e&

Telecoms

Etisalat / e& Overview

Founded in 1976, global telecommunications company Etisalat has been known as e& since its rebrand in 2022. It operates in 38 countries around the world, serving 175 million customers.

Based in Abu Dhabi, Etisalat / e& offers mobile communications and internet services, as well as cloud gaming services with Gamestream. 

It also operates iZone, a system of Wi-Fi hotspots in shopping malls and other locations.

Etisalat / e& was set up as a joint-stock company between Britain’s International Aeradio Limited and local partners. The ownership structure changed in 1983 when the UAE government held a 60% share. The remainder is publicly traded.

Etisalat / e& generates around 60 percent of its revenue from its domestic consumer telecom business, but also operates in 32 countries including Egypt, Pakistan and Morocco.

It has been diversifying further, both geographically and in its activities, over the past few years, acquiring stakes in streaming service Starzplay Arabia and lending platform Beehive and spending $400 million on a majority stake in Careem’s “super-app”. 

In 2023 Etisalat / e& bought a 14.6 percent stake in British telecom major Vodafone for an estimated $5.9 billion 

Etisalat / e& News

Talabat couriers in Abu Dhabi. The company operates in eight countries across the Mena region

Talabat profits soar ahead of planned IPO

Food delivery company Talabat reported a 46 percent increase in third-quarter profits ahead of its planned IPO.  Delivery Hero, the Berlin-headquartered parent company of the business, said net income reached $98 million in the three months, up from $67 million the previous year. It said the increased profit was due to improved logistics efficiency, continued […]

UAE telco e& said its subscriber base showed an annual increase of 6 percent, reaching 177.3 million

Revenue at e& rises as subscriber base grows

The UAE telecommunications company e&, formerly known as Etisalat, said revenue rose 10 percent year on year in the third quarter of 2024 amid an increasing subscriber base. The top line for July to September reached AED14.4 billion ($3.9 billion), compared to AED13.4 billion a year ago. Net profit remained stable at AED3 billion in […]

e& PPF logo The discussions for the sale of PPF's holdings in Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia have been going on since 2022

UAE telco e& purchases slice of PPF in eastern Europe

The UAE telecommunications company e&, formerly known as Etisalat, has completed its acquisition of 50 percent plus one share in the Czech PPF Group’s telecoms business in Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia. The deal, which was approved by the European Commission in September, is valued at €2.15 billion ($2.3 billion), plus a potential earn-out of up […]

Founded in 2012, Odeabank is Turkey’s 13th largest private bank by total gross loans and customer deposits

ADQ buys 96% of Bank Audi’s Turkish unit

The Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ has signed an agreement to acquire 96 percent of Lebanon-based Bank Audi’s Turkish subsidiary, Odeabank. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, including from Turkey’s banking regulation and supervision authority and the competition authority. As part of the deal, Bank Audi and other investors such as the International Finance […]

The European Commission has approved e&'s acquisition of PPF Telecom’s assets in Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia

e&’s PPF deal gets European Commission nod

UAE telecommunications company e&, formerly known as Etisalat, said that the European Commission (EC) has approved the acquisition of Czech PPF Group’s telecoms business across four European countries. The extensive dialogue with the EC enabled the grant of foreign subsidies regulation (FSR) approval on an accelerated basis, three months ahead of the applicable legal deadline of […]

The e& stand at the Mobile World Congress 2024 in Barcelona. The telco says it wants its tech division to generate 40% of revenue by 2030

UAE telco e& buys Turkish tech company for $60m

A wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi-listed e& – more commonly known as Etisalat – has acquired GlassHouse, a Turkey-based cloud solutions provider, for $60 million. The UAE telco’s subsidiary, e& enterprise, had signed an agreement with Mediterra Capital and individual shareholders in June. GlassHouse is an Istanbul-headquartered IT infrastructure services provider which serves 2,000 enterprises […]

T3H791 Muslim woman talking on phone

Saudi Telecom’s share surge raises prospect of PIF stake sale

Saudi Telecom Co’s surprise dividend increase announcement has propelled its stock to a 13-month high and increased the likelihood that majority shareholder the Public Investment Fund may sell some of its stake in the former telecom monopoly. On Sunday, STC said it would pay SAR0.55 ($0.15) per share each quarter for three years starting from […]

People engrossed in their smartphones in Mumbai. Vodafone Idea has lost around 210m subscribers since 2018

Analysts question possible Adia bid for India telecoms group

Abu Dhabi’s top sovereign wealth fund, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia), is among the preferred bidders for a minority stake in Vodafone Idea, a struggling Indian telecom company. However, analysts are warning that the deal makes little commercial or financial sense. Vodafone Idea is India’s third largest mobile operator, but has lost about 210 million […]

e&'s AI-integrated robot interacts with people at the Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2024. The company's shares have rallied from a four-year low in May

Worst is over for Etisalat shares but don’t expect a rebound

Shares in UAE blue-chip e& – more commonly known as Etisalat – have fallen by more than half from a 2022 peak as investors fret over difficulties related to some of the telecom operator’s foreign investments. Yet analysts believe these issues are now priced in and so the worst should be over for the stock. Etisalat […]