etisalat by e&Copied

Four months after Etisalat Group renamed itself e&, the change reached its home market. On 21 June 2022, Khaleej Times and Gulf News reported, the group unveiled etisalat by e& as the new identity for Etisalat UAE. Both outlets tied it to the group's recent positioning as a global technology and investment conglomerate that digitally empowers societies, and Gulf News described the new look as black and red.

Group chief executive Hatem Dowidar said the evolution built on Etisalat UAE's success as the group's growth engine since 1976 and signalled imminent change for the UAE telecoms business. He said the company would boost customer satisfaction, achieve synergies of scale, expand digital services and explore adjacent businesses, and that the refreshed identity captured the dynamism of the journey ahead.

Khaleej Times reported the operational plan behind the brand. Etisalat UAE would grow core and digital services with offers beyond basic telecoms, including gaming, health and insurance, and act as an adviser to businesses in areas such as private networks, autonomous vehicles and AI, aiming to become a digital telco and customer champion. Etisalat UAE chief executive Masood M. Sharif Mahmood explained why the old name stayed in front: Etisalat symbolises strong homegrown roots the company is proud of and will continue to treasure, and the combination signals technological capability alongside long telecoms expertise.

The structure follows a familiar holding company logic. The group gets a short, international name for investors and acquisitions, while the operating brand keeps decades of local recognition and simply adds a parent tag. Dowidar dated the UAE business's role as the group's growth engine back to 1976.

That compromise is sensible but awkward in practice. etisalat by e& is long, mixes a word with a symbol and asks customers to understand corporate architecture they have no reason to care about. The ampersand name e& was always going to be hard to say aloud; attaching it to a beloved domestic brand at least gives it something to stand on. The test is whether by e& ever drops away or slowly takes over. For now, the old name is doing the work while the new one rides along.