Four years after becoming e&, the UAE telecom group switched back to etisalat

In 2022 Etisalat Group became e&, created with Wiedemann Lampe, to signal it was growing beyond telecom into digital services, enterprise technology and investment. By 2026 the group had four engines — telco, AI and business solutions, infrastructure and fintech — and a 50th anniversary to mark.

Treat the name as a chapter tool: e& widened the frame for expansion; the founding name etisalat — Arabic for 'connections' — describes a group refocusing on AI.

On 5 October 2026 the group launched anniversary celebrations under 'etisalat', confirming the name to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange; the newsroom identity swapped the ampersand lockup for a swirl 'e' mark above a lowercase etisalat wordmark. Its first strategic commitment: lifting international connectivity capacity from about 20 Tbps to more than 500 Tbps by 2030 for the UAE's AI campuses and global cloud providers.

The name was live across the group newsroom from announcement day, with coverage led by the heritage-and-AI framing; the rollout of stores, apps and network assets across 38 countries became the open question analysts watched next.

In 2022, Etisalat Group launched e& as its master brand, created with consultancy Wiedemann Lampe, restructuring into four pillars: etisalat by e& for telecom, e& life for digital services and fintech, e& enterprise for cloud, security and AI, and e& capital for investment. CEO Hatem Dowidar said it signalled to the world, to staff and to management that the company was 'becoming something different'. e& led the UAE brand table at USD 11.84 billion in 2022, a 129% rise on 2020; in 2023 Brand Finance rated etisalat by e& the Middle East's strongest brand at 89.1/100.

On 5 October 2026, at its 50th anniversary — the company was founded in 1976, and 'etisalat' means 'connections' in Arabic — the group announced it would step forward under 'etisalat' again, with a new vision to become a leading AI-powered and enabling telco. The name change was confirmed to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, and the group newsroom switched to the new identity: a swirl 'e' above a lowercase etisalat wordmark in place of the ampersand lockup.

Three things lined up. The anniversary gave a natural moment to stand behind the founding name. The strategy refocused the group — 38 countries, more than 250 million subscribers — on four engines: telco, AI and business solutions, infrastructure, and fintech, all forms of connection the old name describes. And the first commitment under the strategy is an infrastructure project lifting international connectivity capacity from about 20 Tbps to more than 500 by 2030 — over 25 times today's level — which the chairman called a strategic step for the UAE's AI campuses and cloud providers.

The two names were not rivals, as BrandTheChange's analysis puts it: the first opened a chapter of expansion, the second opens a chapter of integration. Crucially, the etisalat name never disappeared — it lived on through the e& years in the consumer brand 'etisalat by e&', which is what made a return to one clear name practical.

A symbol name (e&) was built to point at a broader group; a word with 50 years of meaning describes a connection-focused strategy without translation.

Consolidation suits a group that has finished building new pillars and is now unifying around AI, infrastructure and fintech.

Heritage was preserved through the transition — 'etisalat by e&' kept the founding name alive in the market the whole time.

The 50th anniversary gave the reversal a story of continuity instead of a second rebrand whiplash.

Keep the founding name alive somewhere in the system and treat a rebrand as a tool for a defined chapter — a name can serve one strategy, then hand off to the next.

Coverage in UAE and international telecom press largely carried the group's own framing of heritage, strategy and the AI era. The open questions at publication: how the identity reaches stores, apps and network assets across 38 countries, and what happens to the e& life, e& enterprise and e& capital sub-names.