The Middle East telecommunications sector is a booming industry. Nine companies have a combined market value of $106.9 billion and $147.8 billion in assets. Saudi Telecom is the most valuable business, and in 2020 it led all other telecoms in sales ($14.5 billion).
The following are five of the most prominent executives leading Middle East telecoms.
1. Hatem Dowidar
Hatem Dowidar joined e&, previously known as Etisalat, as chief operating officer in 2015 and oversaw international operations outside of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 2016 to 2020. He was appointed CEO in 2020 and is guiding the company through its evolution from telecom to a technology business. The company, which had a market value of $33.2 billion when Dowidar was appointed CEO, is prioritizing market expansion under its e& rebranding and recently acquired a 9.8 percent share of Vodafone for $4.4 billion.
“e& sees this investment as a highly efficient use of its strong balance sheet at a compelling and attractive valuation with strong currency diversification benefits,” the company noted in a press release. “It provides a clear opportunity to realize future value through potential capital gains and dividends. It may also lead to possible commercial partnerships in the areas of R&D, technological applications, and procurement.”
In addition to leading e& through its transformation, Dowidar serves as a board member for Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hutch Sri Lanka, Ufone, GSMA, Mobily, and Maroc Telecom. He previously spent 16 years with Vodafone and last served the company as chairman of the board for Vodafone Egypt. The telecom became the market leader in Egypt within Dowidar’s first 18 months as CEO.
2. Sheikh Saud Bin Nasser Al Thani
Ooredoo, Qatar’s first telecom company, launched as Qatar National Telecom Service in 1949. Sheikh Saud Bin Nasser Al Thani, the company’s CEO, has been with Ooredoo since 1990, at which point it was known as Qtel. Since being named CEO in 2011, Al Thani has helped further establish Ooredoo as the industry leader in Qatar. The company accounted for half of the country’s mobile market revenue growth and 80 percent of all new mobile customers in 2012. Ooredoo had a market value of $5.2 billion as of 2020 with more than $8 billion in sales.
Before becoming CEO, Al Thani held positions such as executive director of group human resources, executive director of special businesses, and director of internal communications. Among other key projects, he led an organizational restructuring in 1998 and a structure review in 2000.
3. Olayan Mohammed al-Wetaid
Saudi Telecom (STC), the largest operator in Saudi Arabia and the most valuable telecom in the Middle East, is led by Olayan Mohammed al-Wetaid. He is the operator’s third CEO since 2018. Nasser Sulaiman Al Nasser, who preceded Mohammed al-Wetaid, resigned in November 2021 due to personal reasons.
Mohammed al-Wetaid, who officially became STC CEO in March 2022, has more than 20 years of telecom leadership experience. In addition to his CEO role, he leads STC subsidiaries including Contact Center Company and Intigral Middle East and is the deputy chairman of STC Pay. He previously served as CEO of STC Bahrain and worked at Saudi Aramco before joining STC.
4. Bader Nasser Al–Kharafi
Ranked No. 33 on Forbes’ list of the Top CEOs in the Middle East in 2021, Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi has been CEO of Zain Group, the largest telecom company in Kuwait, since 2017. Zain Group had a market value of $7.1 billion and $15.1 billion in assets as of 2020, at which point it also had nearly 50 million business and individual customers spanning eight countries in the Middle East and Africa.
An executive with more than 20 years of leadership in not only telecommunications but finance and banking, Nasser Al-Kharafi is also the chairman of the board executive committee of Boursa Kuwait, vice chairman of Injaz Kuwait, and chairman of Gulf Cable & Electrical Industries. He holds board positions with Gulf Bank (Kuwait), Coca-Cola (Kuwait), Foulath Holding (Bahrain), and the Kuwait-British Friendship Society.
5. Johan Dennelind
Swedish national Johan Dennelind has been at the helm of Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du) since 2020, around the same time the operator claimed it had the fastest fixed broadband speeds (130 Mbps) in the Gulf region. Before joining du, Dennelind was Group CEO of Telia Company, one of the world’s leading Internet carriers. Dennelind began leading the Nordic telecom group in 2013 and oversaw a consolidation of its operations with an increased focus on the Nordic and Baltic regions. To that end, he facilitated network-sharing agreements in Finland and Denmark and acquired GET Norway and Tele2 Norway.
As of 2020, du had a market value of $6.4 billion with $3.4 billion in sales. It also had $4.6 billion in assets and profits exceeding $470 million.