During the second day of the 17th Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit, Jasim Al Awadi, Chief ICT Officer (Acting), du, and Issam Eid, COO, Telecom Review Group, had a fireside chat discussion about the operator’s role as a tech player in enabling the UAE’s reputation as a sustainable nation.
The Year of Sustainability
Al Awadi emphasized that the Year of Sustainability, driven by the UAE Government’s vision has pushed “different market segments to move towards sustainability.”
In the swift adoption of 5G, businesses and industries, including du, are aligning their sustainability goals with their strategic objectives. Through these deployments, the collective aim is to streamline operations towards a unified mission of reducing carbon emissions, fostering a more efficient and sustainable environment.
“I think we are blessed being in this country because, being in the UAE, with the wise leadership that we have for 5G adoption, we are an early nation adopter. du is really proud of covering 98.5% of the population of the UAE with 5G,” said Al Awadi.
5G Use Cases
Notably, du has recently unveiled the first 5G-Advanced powered villa that showcases the power of advanced connectivity with 10Gbps capability.
Several use cases leveraging 5G are currently in operation, with du's major deployments primarily focusing on the enterprise sector. “When it comes to ICT, I think we are right on target… Having the private 5G network and automating the factory edge are the biggest projects we have,” said Al Awadi.
du’s Cloud Platform
Al Awadi proudly claimed that du is the biggest open cloud provider, handling around 1,000 VMs and 10,000 containers.
Citing examples, du has worked with the Dubai Municipality to enable the digital transformation of the parks and recreation sector through its ICT platform. du is also empowering Dubai's government entities with secure cloud computing services through the Dubai Digital Cloud platform, in partnership with Dubai Digital Authority.
The du cloud platform introduces automated and orchestrated services, offering a marketplace with a self-service portal, service management automation, and reporting capabilities.
Commenting on his participation, Al Awadi said, “ICT technologies enabling smart cities and smart manufacturing are all changing how we live and work, and will have a significant impact on bringing sustainability goals for the UAE to life; hence, our strategy and roadmap as du ICT is built to leverage these emerging technologies that can allow us to help businesses, the government and the community as a whole. Sustainability lies in the heart of everything that we do.”
