Abu Dhabi (MySolutionInfo)- Etisalat Group has been honored with the Operator of the Year award at the 9th annual TMT Finance & Investment MENA Awards, held in Dubai. TMT MENA 2015 focused on smart city investment and innovation strategies across the region, bringing together leaders in the telecom, finance, and advisory sectors, as well as government. The awards were a part of a larger conference that explored opportunities and challenges for investment and partnership for smart city initiatives in the region.

Etisalat Group came on top following the judgement of an international panel of experts in the telecommunications industry. The Operator of the Year is given to the telecom operator that has most demonstrated growth, enhanced market position, and sustained profitability and loyalty in the Middle East North Africa region from the period 2013-2014. Specifically, it regards operators that have sustained high growth rates and aggressive competitive positioning while achieving strong profitability and low churn.

The Awards Dinner took place at Madinat Jumeirah on April 22. Dr. Daniel Ritz, Chief Strategy Officer, Etisalat Group , who had earlier addressed the main conference on the subject of mergers and acquisitions and investment strategies and Dr. Ahmed Bin Ali, Group Senior Vice President Corporate Communications, accepted the award on behalf of Etisalat Group Chief Executive Officer, Ahmad Julfar, who was unable to attend as he was overseas on important company business.

"It is a great honor to receive this very prestigious and very competitive award," said Dr. Ritz. "We would like to thank first and foremost our customers. A major part of the criteria for this award is customer loyalty, so it is representative of our customers, who have remained loyal to us across our 19 markets, which in turn allows us to further develop innovative new services for them to enjoy. It is also an award for the entire Etisalat family and one which will motivate us all to maintain a high level of excellence."

The goal of enabling smart cities is and will remain one of Etisalat Group 's central goals for years to comeby forwarding technology that will further foster the Internet of Things, M2M, and smart cities, both in itshome country and, ultimately, across all the markets in which Etisalat Group operates.

Smart City investment strategies are integral to the growth of telecom, media and technology companies and living standards for citizens across the region and internationally. Telecom and technology companies, Government departments and regional investors are increasing investment into Smart City projects across the region, and the position of telecom companies in this space is growing in importance. The 9th TMT Finance MENA Conference was a full day event which brought together the leading industry, finance and advisory executives from the most active players across the region to assess the latest innovation and investment strategies.

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