Saleh Al Abdooli was the chief executive officer of

Etisalat Etisalat by e& is an Emirati-based multinational telecommunications services provider, currently operating in 16 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. It is the 18th largest mobile network operator in the world by number of subscri ...

Group, a telecom operator based in the United Arab Emirates with a presence in 16 countries in the Middle East. Al Abdooli stepped down as the CEO after 28 years. He joined Etisalat Group in 1992 and became CEO of Etisalat UAE in 2012, and CEO of Etisalat Group in 2016. 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 on Mobily Board of Directors and Chairman of

Thuraya Thuraya ( ar, الثريا, Gulf Arabic pron.: ; from the Arabic name for the constellation of the Pleiades, ''Thurayya'') is a United Arab Emirates-based regional mobile-satellite service (MSS) provider. The company operates two geosynchronous ...

, a mobile satellite communications company.

Education

Al Abdooli completed his master's degree in Electrical Engineering and Telecom from the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...

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. Al Abdooli has been pivotal in corporate and global expansion investments at Etisalat. He 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 The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such as ...

Network in

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

, the company's first network outside the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

as well as in

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. He also served as chairman of the committee responsible for preparing Etisalat's proposal to establish the second GSM network in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

, a contract won over the bids of

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

Telefónica Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...

Telecom Italia Mobile Gruppo TIM, legally TIM S.p.A. (formerly Telecom Italia S.p.A.), also known as the TIM Group in English, is an Italian telecommunications company with headquarters in Rome, Milan, and Naples, (with the Telecom Italia Tower) which provides fixe ...

& MTC and other major players in the industry. Al Abdooli has also been chosen as a member of the board for Etisalat Nigeria.

CEO of Etisalat Misr (2007-2012)

During his tenure as the CEO of

Etisalat Misr Etisalat by e& Egypt is the third mobile operator to enter the Egyptian market and the first integrated operator for telecom services in Egypt. It officially started its business in 2007 and attracted one million subscribers in the first fifty d ...

, Al Abdooli also played an active role in the development of Etilasat's business in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. The company won one million subscribers in 55 days from launch and reaching 20 million subscribers within 4 years of operations.

CEO of Etisalat UAE (2012 – 2016)

Al Abdooli was appointed as the chief executive officer of

’s UAE operations in February 2012, replacing the operation's former CEO, Nasser Bin Obood. 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.

CEO of Etisalat Group (2016 – 2020)

In March 2016, Al Abdooli announced as Etisalat's Group CEO. In May 2020, Al Abdooli resigned from the Etisalat Group for personal reasons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdooli, Saleh Living people 1964 births Emirati chief executives University of Colorado Boulder alumni