Etisalat has marked its 50th anniversary with a formal open letter, reaffirming its identity under the name the company was founded with in 1976, a year after the UAE itself was established.
The letter, published alongside an anniversary mark reading “50 Years of More,” traces the company’s history from its earliest infrastructure work to the introduction of the region’s first mobile network, the arrival of the internet in the UAE, and the country’s development into one of the most fibre-connected nations in the world.
Much of the letter is addressed directly to users rather than to the industry. It acknowledges the way connectivity shaped daily life, calling attention to video calls, remote work, digital payments, and the moment the pandemic moved an entire country online. “We built the network. You gave it meaning,” the letter reads.
The document closes with a pointed statement on brand identity: “We are etisalat. We always have been. We always will be.” The company rebranded to the e& name in 2022 as part of a wider repositioning as a global technology group, but the anniversary communication appears to deliberately foreground the Etisalat name it has carried since founding.
The letter was published with visual references to the company’s origins, including a vintage rotary telephone and a device labelled “MUBASHER,” evoking the era of its 1976 launch. A horizontal bar in the colours of the UAE flag runs along the foot of the document.
