Etisalat and du announce UAE smart cities project
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Etisalat and du announce UAE smart cities project

The UAE’s two telecoms operators have announced that they are working together on a government project to build smart infrastructure in new developments.

Etisalat and du said that the project, call Taawun, will include an initial 50 projects that will be pilots for all new developments in the UAE.

Saleh Al Abdooli, CEO of Etisalat UAE, told Arabian Business: “Customer choices will be key to the development of new telecom infrastructure in the UAE, embodied by the Taawun initiative, which is of strategic importance to the country’s telecom industry as well as the real estate sector.”

Osman Sultan, CEO of du, said: “Taawun marks a major milestone in our progress towards a fully competitive telecommunications market in the UAE.”

The announcement comes a day after the Federal National Council of the UAE passed a draft law to set up an information and telecoms policy council that will regulate completion.

According to Arabian business, the first phase of the programme will be implemented at Dubai Sustainable City, a project that will include an environmental sciences university, school, commercial centre, shopping mall and a hotel and resort.

Al Abdooli added: “Etisalat is keen on this [Taawun] initiative, which aligns with our commitment to support the government’s smart vision and development of a smart environment across the country. It will ensure that the newly developed infrastructure will meet the current and future connectivity requirements of smart homes and systems in new property developments.”

Sultan said: “Through Taawun, all new real estate developments across the UAE will be served by competitive state-of-the-art passive infrastructure and residents of these new development projects will now be able to make a choice between operators.”

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