Nigerian Music - Nigeria Phone Card Etisalat Nigeria – Etisalat Nigeria History

Emirates Telecommunication Corporation -- Etisalat was founded in 1976 as a joint-stock company between International Aeradio Limited, a British Company, and local partners. In 1983 the ownership structure changed -- United Arab Emirates government held a 60% share in the company and the remaining 40% were publicly traded.

In 1991 the UAE central government issued Federal Law No. 1, which gave the corporation the right to provide the telecommunications wired and wireless services in the country and between UAE and other countries. It also gave the firm the right to issue licenses for owning, importing, manufacturing, using or operating telecommunication equipment.

This practically gave Etisalat both regulatory and control powers, which completed the monopoly of the telecom giant in the UAE. In order to safeguard the country’s economic development, the law made provisions for the development of the telecommunication sector in the country.

The increase of exchange lines from 36,000 in 1976 to more than 737,000 in 1998 was one of the important indicators of Etisalat network’s growth and development. The company witnessed profit growth rates of 80%.

An important milestone was Etisalat’s commencement of international operations in January 2001, when under the brand name of Ufone it started operating out of Islamabad.

Today Etisalat stands 140th among the Financial Times Top 500 Corporations in the world in terms of market capitalization, and is ranked by The Middle East magazine as the 6th largest company in the Middle East in terms of capitalization and revenues. The Corporation is the largest contributor outside the oil sector to development programmes of the UAE Federal Government.

Etisalat has also won accolades from across the region for its nationalization programme. It is currently operating in 18 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. As of November 2009, Etisalat is the 13th largest mobile network operator in the world, with a total customer base of 94 million.

On October 18, 2008, Etisalat reported net revenue of USD $7.712 billion (AED 23.329 billion) and net profits of USD $1.989 billion (AED 19.1bn).

Etisalat is one of the Internet hubs in the Middle East (AS8966), providing connectivity to other telecommunications operators in the region. It is also the largest carrier of international voice traffic in the Middle East and Africa, and the 12th largest voice carrier in the world.

As of October 2008, Etisalat has 510 roaming agreements covering 186 countries and enabling BlackBerry, 3G, GPRS and voice roaming. Etisalat operates Points of Presence (PoP) in New York, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris and Singapore.

Nigeria Phone Card Etisalat Nigeria