Etisalat & PTCL to strengthen UAE Israel ties

Jalil Afridi
Washington DC: Technology giants in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel are working to strengthen their relations in field of technology and cyber security. In this regard both the countries are searching for ways to improve their local businesses and protect themselves from threats which lies in the bandwidth. 
Tech giants and telecom sectors are in particular two areas where both the governments are working extensively to collaborate on data sharing and several other projects.
Etisalat, a mobile giant from UAE already has presence in several countries in Africa, Middle East and Asia including Pakistan and Afghanistan. 
In Pakistan Etisalat owns most of the shares in Pakistan Tele Communication Limited (PTCL) which has monopoly over the county market share when it comes to their landlines, internet or their mobile carrier (UFONE). 
Israeli telecom giants Pelephone, Cellcom Partner, Hot Mobile and the government are all trying to collaborate with Etisalat to provide consumers with better rates and more options. Newly appointed CEO of PTCL, Mathew Wilsher has already started working on how PTCL can strengthen Etisalat, the mother company of PTCL. Mathew Wilsher brings with him decades of experience in telecom sector and has served in places like Afghanistan and Africa. 
Mathew Wilsher has experience in dealing with Israeli officials due to his past experience in Africa where he built great relations between the two countries in fields of telecom and cyber security.On the other hand Etisalat is not very happy with PTCL because of the continues drop in its profits since last more than a decade. Etisalat had acquired PTCL in 2005 at throw away price from Pakistan by President Musharraf who was leading the country at that time. 
Despite being the leading company of Pakistan at that time whose shares use to sell like hot cakes, Pakistan sold its national asset, PTCL without thinking about the future of technology. It is pertinent to mention here that despite lapse of fifteen years Etisalat still owes Pakistan more than 800 million. 
Now, according to sources the plan is not only to provide consumers with good costs of calling, but to gather as much data as possible about Pakistan. It is also pertinent to mention here Pakistan has been the bone of contention for official presence of Israel in the region. Israel is well aware that if Pakistan follows the foot step of Saudi Arabia and start taking lenient view about Israel then it will become very easy for Israel to establish formal relations with several other neighboring countries of Pakistan including Pakistan.
The next part of this collocation is related to digital content promotion, which will enable advertisers and promoters to go through with their desired agenda. It is pertinent to mention here that globally Israel owns some of the leading digital advertising companies and Singapore is a common destination for these CEO’s to meet and discuss. 
When asked an IT expert in Pakistan about the prospect and consequences of this collaboration between Etisalat and Israeli telecom companies, the official who did want to be named said that “yes all the data being used  by PTCL landlines, internet and UFONE will be available to Israel and its companies.” 
When asked if the government of Pakistan has taken any measures about sharing Pakistani citizens or Pakistani companies and organizations data with third parties, the official said “come on, the government has no clue about these things.”It is also pertinent to mention here that Israel and India and UAE and India are already collaborating in fields of technology and combatting cyber crime. — 
Muhammad Jalil Afridi
Managing Editor/Director
The Frontier Post
COO
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