CAIRO: Etisalat has announced it will be participating in the Informa IP&TV Forum Middle East and North Africa. The forum is held at Dubai's Jumeirah Beach Hotel on November 1 and 2. Aside from being the largest exhibitor in the forum, Etisalat is also the Strategic Operator Partner of the event. The forum is meant to bring together regional and international operators, satellite providers, cable providers and aggregators and broadcasters. According to Etisalat's Vice President of Home Products Marketing, Rashid Al Abbar, Etisalat is “a major sponsor of this event,” as they “believe in the importance of the industry.” “Etisalat has invested significantly in its infrastructure,” Al Abbar continued. “And this has enabled us to become the partner of choice for both telcos who are looking to expand the availability of TV services to their customers, be it over a managed or a broadband network, and content providers wishing to monetize their content to hundreds of thousands of IP connected homes and millions of wirelessly connected smartphones.” Etisalat is showcasing the latest IPTV and broadband TV developments and hopes to establish a partnership with content providers and telecom operators. Al Abbar has praised their nationwide fiber network, saying that it allows for Etisalat to be the first operator in the region to offer eLife, and IPTV service that delivers over 350 Live TV channels, with more than 600 movies on demand to almost 100 thousand customers. Etisalat's Smart OTT-Hub and Carrier and Wholesale teams will be supporting the delivery of the eLife service The Smart OTT-Hub will also enable the delivery of content from partners that connect their own content to the Etsalat Media Gateway. BM