Khalifa Al Shamsi was appointed as Etisalat's chief digital services officer in 2012, tasked with managing the newly established Etisalat Digital Services Unit at the Group level.

Prior to this, he was Senior Vice President of Technology and Network Strategy for Etisalat Group, specialising in Etisalat Group's Digital Services Strategy with a special focus on telecom, media and ICT.

Mr. Al Shamsi's remit includes leading Etisalat Group focus on various industry verticals such as Machine-to-Machine (M2M), cloud services, commerce, digital advertisement, advanced communciations, digital entertainment, and video services, and aims to boost the Etisalat position in the digital eco-system and driving innovation and advanced services to Etisalat customers across all areas of operation.

With over 20 years of experience in the telecom and ICT industry, previously Khalifa has successfully led the design, development and deployment of many important projects and a wide range of products and services. Specifically, Khalifa was behind the success story of Etisalat UAE where he was responsible for the deployment of mobile services, fiber-based broadband and advanced data services for Smart Phones.

He has been with Etisalat since 1993 and was head of marketing in the UAE overlooking marketing, sales and customer care functions before moving to his new Group position in February 2011.

Khalifa is also a Member of the Board of Directors at Etisalat Afghanistan and E-vision - the UAE-based TV, content and multimedia company.

He graduated from the University of Kentucky, USA in 1993 with a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering.