To start with, Etisalat will be extending its UAE local MPLS network upto US, UK & to Egypt, KSA, and Kuwait on its own backbone, whereas the connectivity at the distant end will be provided by local partners.

With the setting up of these new nodes, Etisalat will offer secure IP/MPLS links to carry data traffic on its own network. This will also translate into pricing advantages which will be passed on to customers since Etisalat will manage its own network from end-to-end in a seamless manner.

According to Abdulla Hashim, Sr.VP, Business Solutions, Etisalat, “This initiative is a major milestone for Etisalat and is part of a comprehensive strategy to follow our customers and offer them a secure network for connectivity solutions with advantages like single point of contact and price guarantees. Having our own nodes is a major differentiator in UAE and in the Middle East and we remain committed to offering our customers a truly world class connectivity solution with advantages like reliable quality of service & network manageability for customers.”

He added, “We will continue to expand our own network and we will follow this up with the launch of further new nodes globally as part of a phased approach. “

UAE based companies who want to communicate with their partners and offices abroad will now have a single point of contact for all their operational and customer service needs thereby making it very convenient for them to deal directly with Etisalat. Etisalat is also offering Managed services for International connectivity so that customers can outsource all their network operational & management activities thereby reducing their operational costs.

Global IPVPN offers customers the flexibility to communicate across multiple offices on their private network with an ability to run applications with guaranteed performance for each type of application. Customers can also take advantage of scalable bandwidth so that they can quickly add new sites on the network.

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Around the Middle East and North Africa region, countries reported varying propensity to hire as part of the Jobs Index. More than a third of respondents in Oman, 34%, said they would definitely be hiring in the next three months. This was closely followed by Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, where 31% and 30% respectively said their organisations will definitely be recruiting new staff in the coming months.

Around the Gulf, the countries largely varied in terms of their intentions to hire more staff. In Qatar, 55% said they would definitely or probably hire in the coming three months, compared to 53% in Kuwait and just 47% in Bahrain. The figures suggest that organisations in Saudi Arabia are currently faring the best during this current economic cycle.

The Jobs Index (JI) is conducted to gauge perceptions of job availability and hiring, to identify job trends and to provide an understanding of the key skill sets and qualifications required in the Middle East job market.
When asked how many jobs would be available in the next three months, 42% of respondents said that there would be less than five jobs ‘on offer’ for job seekers in their organisations. Another 24% said that their organisations would be offering around six to 10 jobs, while at the other end of the spectrum, just 3% of the respondents said that more than 100 jobs would be available.

In terms of the jobs that would be available in the next quarter, junior members of staff are the most likely to be employed; 22% of organisations said that they would be looking to employ junior executives, followed by 21% that said they would be looking to hire on an executive level. Unsurprisingly, limited C-suite jobs are going to be on offer: 2% said they would be seeking to appoint a new President, 5% said they plan to appoint a CEO, and 6% said they would advertise vacancies for a COO, CFO or CMO.

According to the study, organisations around the Middle East favour employing staff that are graduates in the fields of engineering or business management: 21% of organisations agreed that these two were the most important disciplines. The Gulf countries all showed a significant preference for graduates in these areas. Less important qualifications according to the study were qualifications in law and hospitality, with just 5% and 4% of organisations respectively agreeing that these are important when selecting staff.

“This data with regard to preferred qualifications is interesting, but it is perhaps more indicative of the dominant industries that exist in the region, rather than the fact that some types of qualifications are seen as worth less than others,” commented Lama Ataya, Head of Marketing, Bayt.com. “Considering that the Gulf region is growing significantly in terms of its industrial output and in terms of its intellectual capital as a finance and commerce global hub, then the case is very clearly made as to why graduates in these fields are likely to find it easier than others to find employment.”

Good communication skills in English and Arabic were clearly advantageous among the region’s organisations when selecting a new employee: 60% said that these skills were most desirable when choosing potential candidates. Lebanon and Saudi Arabia were the countries that placed most emphasis on these bilingual skills, with 71% and 69% respectively citing them as the clear skill priority. In the UAE, just 55% of employers stated that English and Arabic language skills were important; while being a cooperative and helpful team player and possessing good leadership skills were all similarly important traits in new recruits.

“As many regional companies struggled to stop spiraling costs during the recession, many people caught in the cross-fire lost their jobs. It follows now, as business picks up, that companies find themselves short-staffed and in need to recruit. This is another indication that the economic situation is improving,” said Joanna Longworth, Chief Marketing Officer, YouGov Siraj.
The JI is in part gauged by asking the respondents what their hiring expectancy is in a year’s time; this forms the Hiring Expectancy Index (HEI). In the long term, 66% of the region’s organisations expect to hire, suggesting widespread optimism for the future. Oman, Algeria and Saudi Arabia were found to be good potential countries for job seekers, with 57%, 45% and 43% respectively saying that they will definitely hire. In the UAE, 33% of organisations said that they will definitely be hiring in a year’s time, while another 30% said they will probably hire in a year. All of the Gulf countries, with the exception of Qatar, came across as optimistic for the future in terms of projected capacity to hire. Following Saudi Arabia’s positive lead, 38% in Bahrain and 34% in Kuwait said they will definitely be hiring next year, compared to Qatar’s total of 31% – the lowest figure among all the surveyed countries. Notably, respondents in Algeria (45%), Jordan and Tunisia (35% each) all said they will be hiring in a year’s time, suggesting significant predicted growth in these countries.

When asked how they rate their current country of residence as a job market compared to those around the rest of the region, respondents in the UAE were the most positive about their country: 49% said it was much more attractive than other countries. Positivity about current country of residence was also felt in KSA (44%) and Qatar (38%).

Asked which industries the respondents feel are attracting or retaining top talent in their country of residence today, the majority agreed it was either banking and finance (32%) or telecommunications (31%). “This is most likely as a result of the perception that banking and finance and telecoms positions are the highest paid in the region, and as a direct result, manage to retain their well-paid talent,” explained Longworth.

“By launching the Jobs Index and conducting it quarterly to gauge how the region’s employers feel they are poised – or conversely – poorly-placed to hire in the coming months which can then be compared over time, we will be eliciting a clear overview of the way that the region’s job market is moving – allowing us to chart its improvements, stability or indeed decline,” commented Ataya.

“We therefore want to use this data to enable regional businesses, HR professionals and other relevant industry stakeholders to have an up-to-date series of indicators about job market trends across the Middle East.”

Data for the October 2009 Jobs Index was collected online between 1 and 21 October 2009 with 5,084 executive managers/HR managers/senior officials from the UAE, KSA, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Pakistan. Males and females aged over 18 years old, of all nationalities, were included in the survey.

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A device with a sleek and unprecedented compactness for a smartphone featuring the Android platform, the HTC Magic enables a superior mobile Internet experience, providing broad flexibility for personalisation.

HTC Magic is pre-installed with top-notch applications from Google, including Google Search™, and Gmail™ creating multiple layers of advanced mobile internet capabilities for users who are frequently on the road. Furthermore, HTC Magic is equipped with a 3.2-inch HVGA touch screen display, a trackball and optimised navigational buttons, a 3.2 mega-pixel camera and GPS.

Essa Al Hadad Chief Marketing officer, Etisalat, said, “Etisalat has a history of launching pioneering initiatives that provide the best value and technology experience to our customers and we are delighted to now bring the first ever Android-powered mobile device in the UAE. HTC Magic will provide unparalleled technology experience to our customers with its innovative, advanced and intuitive internet connectivity features. The launch of this new smartphone is in accordance with our goal to remain highly responsive to the emerging and evolving needs of our customers. HTC Magic perfectly complements our diverse range of connectivity solutions with its superior mobile internet capability and advanced applications.”

Kevin Chen, General Manager, Middle East and Africa said, “Taking advantage of the revolutionary capabilities of the Android platform, HTC Magic is equipped to satisfy the most challenging demands of smartphone users, particularly in the UAE where mobile connectivity has become an integral part of everyday life. HTC Magic’s cutting-edge technology and user-friendly interface are significant value-added features that enable users to enjoy mobile and internet applications practically anywhere and in any situation.”

“We are excited to be partnering with Etisalat to launch this powerful phone within one of the most important mobile markets in the region. Furthermore, this partnership is a testament to HTC’s continued commitment to innovate and develop new solutions, as well as leveraging strategic partnerships to enhance our value proposition to our consumers,” added Chen.

HTC Magic features the Android-optimised Web Kit browser, while it is also equipped with a variety of email options such as POP3, IMAP and Google Talk™ for instant messaging, aside from regular SMS and MMS messaging. The feature-packed HTC Magic also comes with Outlook® synchronization, Smart Dialer, and has an onscreen QWERTY keyboard with predictive text. The onboard SlideME Application Manager (SAM) provides access to variety of software and games for download.

HTC Magic, which comes in the colour black, will be available in the market late October at a retail price of AED 2199 for the prepaid customers with one month free 5GB data package. Attractive offers will be available for post paid customers as well. The device will be available from all the Etisalat Business centres.