e& goes back to the etisalat name as the group turns 50.
The UAE telecoms group that renamed itself e& in 2022 is going back to its founding name, etisalat, as it marks 50 years. It told the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on 6 October that etisalat is "the name we are taking forward".
The filing, headed "Etisalat Group reveals its 50th Anniversary Identity", says the name reflects the group's heritage, strategy and ambitions for the AI era, and that the etisalat identity will now be used in group communications. The name had been unveiled the day before at an event attended by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court. There the group also launched a project to raise its international connectivity from 20 terabits per second to more than 500 by 2030, which it calls the first major commitment of a new strategy built on four business engines: telco, AI and business solutions, infrastructure, and fintech.
Founded in 1976, etisalat switched to e& in February 2022, saying at the time that the new brand reflected its aim of becoming a global technology and investment conglomerate; its ticker on the exchange changed from ETISALAT to EAND that October. The group says it now operates in 38 countries with more than 250 million subscribers. A 50th-anniversary message on its corporate website tells customers it is starting its next fifty years under the name it began with, and declares: "We are etisalat."
The filing does not say how quickly logos, stores and digital channels will change, whether units that still carried the e& name on the group's website on 21 October, such as its investment arm e& capital, will be renamed, or whether the EAND ticker will change. None of the announcements names an agency or gives a cost.
For Gulf marketers, it is a rare reversal of a high-profile corporate rebrand: after four and a half years as e&, the group is returning to the name it says customers have trusted for five decades. Partners whose campaigns, stores or packaging carry the group's logo should expect to update them as the identity rolls out.
Why it matters
A 50-year-old Gulf brand is undoing a high-profile rebrand after four and a half years, a reminder that heritage names can outlast new corporate identities. Co-branded assets will need updating.
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