In the UAE’s fast-moving digital landscape, Masood M. Sharif Mahmood, CEO of e& UAE, is redefining the role of telecoms—where Artificial Intelligence doesn’t replace people but better understands them.
There was a time, not so long ago, when telecom providers were little more than silent workhorses—keeping people connected, dropping signals in tunnels and issuing cryptic bills that few could decode. However, Masood M. Sharif Mahmood, the CEO of e& UAE, makes it clear that the business of connection has undergone a philosophical transformation.
It is no longer merely about bandwidth—it is about belonging. Mahmood conveys the organisation’s vision with the calm precision of a leader who understands the significance of the scale. However, when he discusses AI and customer experience, his tone becomes more personal.
“The role of telecoms has fundamentally evolved,” he said. “It’s no longer just about networks. It’s about trust. It’s about relevance. It’s about impacting people’s lives.” Under his leadership, e& UAE has transformed from a traditional telecom operator into a digital lifestyle powerhouse.
The organisation now operates in a country where the population is digitally native, expectations are sky-high and convenience is assumed. In 2025, e& was named the ‘Customer-Obsessed Enterprise of the Year’ by Forrester—a recognition Mahmood accepts as a reflection rather than an award. “It validates what we’ve always known,” he said. “No matter how advanced your technology, the only thing that truly matters is the human impact it creates.”
That philosophy now shapes every facet of the customer journey at e& UAE. From onboarding and support to content discovery and proactive care, AI is no longer in the background—it is the backbone of the experience. Yet what makes the company’s approach striking is its insistence that AI serves not only efficiency but empathy.
Treating each customer as a market of one
Hyper-personalisation defines the shape of this strategy. “People don’t want a generic service,” Mahmood said. “They want to feel understood without having to explain themselves.” For a business with over 15 million customers, that might seem ambitious. However, with AI, Mahmood insists it is now entirely possible to deliver meaningful, individual experiences—at scale.
The company’s digital infrastructure reads like a playbook in real-time responsiveness. AI analyses user behaviour, anticipates needs, and fine-tunes every interaction—whether it’s a recommendation, a notification, or a reward. “We’ve moved beyond one-size-fits-all,” he said. “AI enables us to move from reaction to anticipation.”
This shift is perhaps most visible in the firm’s autonomous retail experiences. In e&’s futuristic EASE stores, customers can complete transactions end-to-end without needing to speak to a single person. Paradoxically, they don’t feel alone. Instead, they engage with AI-powered digital humans which speak multiple languages, retain the memory of previous interactions and respond with emotional nuance. “It’s a digital assistant,” Mahmood added, “that doesn’t feel robotic.”
The intersection of innovation and empathy
It is a deliberate blend of innovation and empathy. Mahmood believes AI’s real power lies in interpretation rather than automation—of language, behaviour and emotion. The company’s ‘Beyond the Desk’ programme invites senior leaders to engage directly with customers in unscripted conversations. “These aren’t filtered or curated interactions,” he said. “They’re raw. And they show us where we can be better.”
The insights from these dialogues flow straight into AI product design, shaping how interfaces look, sound and behave. More importantly, they help to ensure technology remains anchored in the cultural and emotional reality of the UAE’s diverse population. It’s therefore not surprising that e& has become one of the first in the region to receive the Tier S designation under the Dubai AI Seal.
“It’s about responsible intelligence,” Mahmood said. “Our governance frameworks reflect transparency, consent and cultural sensitivity. That’s non-negotiable.”
The invisible hand behind the curtain
What’s perhaps most intriguing about e& UAE’s transformation is the quiet sophistication behind its services. AI is not simply a tool for speed—it is the invisible engine reshaping customer experience end-to-end.
Mahmood offers an example: “Setting up services used to take hours. Now, AI-driven validation and voice authentication make it near-instantaneous.” From the first interaction, customers are met with speed and simplicity—but also a sense that someone, somewhere, truly understands their needs. This attentiveness continues across the relationship.
Today, its Virtual Assistant (VA) supports both English and Arabic, catering to all customer segments. Initially addressing 40% of customer call drivers, the VA has now matured to handle an impressive 95%, made possible by a robust architecture powered by Nuance, Google Speech, GPT, Watson, and AIC, alongside continuous enhancements in machine learning and customer experience design.
“But it’s not about reducing headcount,” Mahmood said. “It’s about ensuring that when a human touch is needed, it arrives with speed and purpose.”
For high-value or complex interactions, the company has introduced the Al Tamyouz model, which connects customers to live agents supported by AI analytics and expert guidance. The result is not just resolution—but recognition.
With AI in the mix, e& no longer relies on generic marketing. Instead, users get suggestions that feel timely and personal—rewards shaped by behaviour and bundles tailored to the way each home consumes content. “It’s not about selling,” he said. “It’s about curating value.”
Even when problems arise, the systems now predict rather than react to them. Machine Learning models identify anomalies in app usage, flag potential billing errors before they’re noticed and even anticipate network bottlenecks. These insights feed into both technical planning and product development.
Mahmood mentions the use of autonomous drones to inspect telecom towers in real-time—an AI-powered solution that enhances safety enables predictive maintenance and supports national smart infrastructure goals. “We’re using AI not only to fix problems,” he added, “but to prevent them from happening in the first place.”
Human-in-the-Loop, reimagined
Still, amidst all this automation, Mahmood is adamant: the human matters. “We’re not designing systems that replace people. We’re designing systems that elevate the capability of our humans and arm them with intelligent tools that augment their capabilities.” He envisions a future where AI can read tone, detect frustration and escalate accordingly. “That’s emotional intelligence,” he said. “And that’s the next competitive edge.”
The company is investing in systems that learn from human agents—not only to become smarter but also to recognise their limits. Mahmood calls it ‘intelligent orchestration’: AI handling the routine, humans handling the nuanced. “It’s not about man versus machine. It’s about synergy.”
In many ways, e& UAE is attempting to make telecom services disappear—not by retreating, but by becoming so seamless, anticipatory and intuitive that they blend into the fabric of everyday life. “Connectivity is no longer the end goal,” Mahmood said. “It’s the starting point.”
If the telecoms of the past delivered signal, today’s must provide meaning. Mahmood doesn’t view customer experience as a metric but as a mindset. And in this mindset, technology must serve not only what we want but how we feel. With e& UAE’s sweeping, thoughtful embrace of AI, the future of telecom may not sound like a dial tone—it may increasingly sound like being understood.
