etisalat has unveiled a major project to expand its digital infrastructure capacity within the UAE and internationally, aiming to increase international connectivity to more than 500 terabits per second (Tbps) by 2030. His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister, and Chairman of the Presidential Court, attended the project launch in Abu Dhabi.
The planned 500 Tbps capacity represents a twenty-five-fold increase over the company’s current 20 Tbps volume. Furthermore, the initiative will build diversified routing paths designed to improve transmission efficiency, deliver low latency, and support the growing demands of artificial intelligence workloads.
Expanding Digital Infrastructure Capacity to 500 Tbps
His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who also serves as Chairman of the Emirates Investment Authority (EIA), reviewed the group’s long-term network plans. The project aims to prepare domestic networks for massive data processing requirements generated by advanced computing systems.
“The UAE continues to invest in building advanced digital infrastructure, guided by its vision for the future and its belief that readiness for what comes next starts with having the enablers that support economic growth, accelerate innovation and strengthen the country’s global competitiveness.”
His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister, and Chairman of the Presidential Court
Supporting AI Workloads and Data Demands
The expansion specifically addresses bandwidth constraints faced by regional AI data centers and global cloud services. In addition, the enhanced routing will help protect data flow reliability across regional and international destinations.
His Excellency Jassem Mohamed Bu Ataba Alzaabi, Chairman of etisalat group, noted that expanding digital infrastructure capacity from 20 Tbps to over 500 Tbps is a necessary response to modern data flows.
“Moving international connectivity from 20 terabits per second to more than 500 is a strategic step to address the growing challenges facing global data processing and data flow, particularly given the tremendous advancements in AI, and enhances the flexibility and reliability of the infrastructure to meet the requirements of UAE’s AI campuses, global cloud providers, and the group’s operations and customers across its markets.”
His Excellency Jassem Mohamed Bu Ataba Alzaabi, Chairman of etisalat group
Strategic Shift on 50th Anniversary
The project coincides with etisalat marking its 50th anniversary. As part of this milestone, the group introduced a revised corporate framework structured around four key business pillars: telecommunications, AI and business solutions, network infrastructure, and fintech.
Consequently, the organization is directing its capital expenditures toward high-bandwidth assets that serve both enterprise clients and public institutions requiring low-latency computing access.
Global Reach Across 38 Markets
Currently, etisalat group operates across 38 countries and serves more than 250 million subscribers. Expanding its digital infrastructure capacity connects local systems directly into global data networks, giving the project broad international reach.
Ultimately, the infrastructure upgrades will support both public and private entities as they deploy automated systems and handle larger cross-border data volumes over the coming decade.
