BT helps local companies go global

Wael El-Kabbany said BT’s Middle East business grew 60 per cent last year

A senior executive from BT said the company’s presence at MECOM was an important part of its strategy and commitment to the UAE and Middle East market.

Wael El-Kabbany, vice president Business Development for Middle East and Africa statedthat the company was in a good position to assist national businesses extend their reach beyond their own borders, by providing the right network and infrastructure backbone.

“The message we hear all the time from the local market is ‘we are expanding’, ‘we are going regional or global’,” El-Kabbany said. “But for a company to go regional or global, it has to change a lot of the ways it does business.”

BT operates in 170 countries and El-Kabbany said the telco’s network solutions are very much in line with the aspirations of local
companies and major enterprises planning to go international. BT’s Middle East business grew 60 per cent year-on-year for 2007, and last week its global advisory board met in Dubai for its annual board meeting, a destination chosen in preference to cities in 169 other markets.

“We are going where our growth is going and it proves our commitment to the region in which we are operating,” he said.