Etisalat and Huawei announced during the Mobile World Congress here a strategic partnership to deploy end-to-end 5G network in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2019.

Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, Etisalat was established four decades ago in the UAE as the country's first telecommunications service provider. It is now one of the world's leading telecom groups in emerging markets serving 140 million subscribers in 15 countries across the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communication technology infrastructure and smart devices.

Saeed Al Zarouni, Senior Vice President, Mobile Networks of Etisalat, said in a press release that "5G is considered a major enabler for the next generation of broadband service and the Internet of Things, which is growing exponentially due to the global adoption of connected devices."

"5G service availability will provide high data rates with ultra-low latency, providing unlimited access to all kinds of innovative applications and services and will drive efficiency and productivity to a wide range of business across industrial sectors of the UAE," he added.

The two companies have been collaborating for over a decade, according to the press release.