Saleh Al Abdooli

Saleh Al Abdooli
Born	1964
Alma mater	University of Colorado Boulder
Occupation	CEO of Etisalat Group

Saleh Al Abdooli (born 1964) is the Chief Executive Officer of Etisalat Group, the leading telecom operator in Africa and the Middle East. He has been associated with the Group since 1992.^[1] He has been pivotal in creating technological integration strategies as well as corporate and global expansion investments at Etisalat.^[2] Abdooli is also the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the Executive Committee for Etisalat Misr and Etisalat Services Holding Company . Saleh Al Abdooli was most recently appointed as Etisalat’s representative in Mobily Board of Directors and Chairman of Thuraya,leading mobile satellite communications company.^[3]

Education

Al Abdooli completed his master's degree in Electrical Engineering and Telecom from the University of Colorado Boulder.^[4]

Career

Al Abdooli began his career with Etisalat as an Engineer for Mobile Systems Planning in 1992. For eight years after his appointment, Al Abdooli served the company in various roles and was promoted as the Chief Engineer of Mobile Systems Planning. In 2001, he was appointed as the Managing Engineer for Mobile Systems.

In this role, he was responsible for all activities pertaining to planning, design, optimization, operations, maintenance, installation and quality assurance across the company network.

In the past, Al Abdooli has served as the Chairman of the Etisalat Group’s technical committee which oversees its international expansion. During this phase, he led the technical committee that prepared and designed the Etisalat GSM Network in Zanzibar, the company’s first network outside the UAE as well as in Sudan and Afghanistan. He also served as Chairman of the committee responsible for preparing Etisalat’s proposal to establish the second GSM network in Saudi Arabia, a contract won over the bids of Vodafone, Telefónica, Telecom Italia Mobile & MTC and other major players in the industry. Al Abdooli has also been chosen as a member of the board for Etisalat Nigeria.^[2]

CEO of Etisalat Misr (2007-2012)

During his tenure as the CEO of Etisalat Misr, Al Abdooli also played an active role in the development of Etilasat’s business in Egypt.^[5] Through competent technological integration, the company won one million subscribers in 55 days from launch and reaching 20 million subscribers within 4 years of operations.^[6]

CEO of Etisalat UAE (2012 – 2016)

Al Abdooli was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Etisalat’s UAE operations in February 2012, replacing the operation's former CEO, Nasser Bin Obood.^[7][8][9]

In June 2014, the company reported an active subscriber base of 11 million.^[4] Its mobile subscriber base reported an annual increase of 17% to reach 9.3 million during the same period . The eLife subscriber base witnessed an increase of 20%, taking the company’s broadband customer base to 1 million.

Under Al Abdooli’s leadership, the company has continued to invest in enhancing technological integration levels in the country. It has invested more than AED25 billion on mobile and fixed networks over the last 5 years.^[10]

CEO of Etisalat Group (2016 – Present)

In March 2016, Al Abdooli announced as Etisalat's Group CEO.^[11]

References