ABU DHABI, 19th October, 2026 (WAM) -- etisalat UAE has become the first telecom operator in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to achieve accredited certification to ISO/IEC 42001:2023 for its Artificial Intelligence (AI) Management System.

The certification follows an independent assessment by LRQA, a leading global provider of assurance, inspection and certification services, accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to certify organisations against ISO/IEC 42001. This marks an important step in etisalat UAE's progression from deploying AI at scale to governing it through a structured, independently assessed management system.

ISO/IEC 42001:2023 is the world's first international standard for AI management systems. It provides organisations with a structured framework for managing AI-related risks and opportunities while strengthening overall governance, reliability and continual improvement.

The certification process involved extensive collaboration across Technology & Information, AI Engineering & Factory, Business Excellence and business use-case owners, bringing together technology, governance and operational expertise from across etisalat UAE.

Marwan Bin Shakar, Chief Technology Officer, etisalat UAE, said: "As we expand the use of AI across our services and operations, strong governance must be developed alongside technical capability. ISO/IEC 42001 provides a structured approach to managing AI risks, evaluating impact, and maintaining appropriate human oversight throughout the lifecycle. It enables us to advance AI at scale while applying consistent controls that support responsible innovation and stakeholder confidence."

For etisalat UAE, the certification demonstrates that AI governance is being embedded systematically across the organisation rather than applied to individual initiatives in isolation. Its AI Management System establishes requirements covering accountability, AI risk and impact assessments, lifecycle controls, transparency, human oversight, performance evaluation and continual improvement.

The framework is particularly relevant as etisalat UAE continues to expand its use of AI across services and operations, including emerging areas such as agentic AI, AI-enabled cybersecurity and collaborative innovation programmes. Initiatives including agentic AI integrations, the University of Sharjah AI Innovation Lab and AI-driven cybersecurity solutions such as NetSecure360 illustrate the breadth of etisalat UAE's expanding AI ecosystem and the growing importance of consistent governance as applications scale.

In practice, the AI Management System gives teams across etisalat UAE a consistent framework for developing, deploying and monitoring relevant AI applications. It translates responsible AI principles into clear lifecycle requirements, including impact assessments, defined controls, human oversight, performance monitoring and continual evaluation.

For customers and technology partners, the framework provides greater clarity on how AI-enabled services and collaborations are governed. It establishes common expectations around risk management and responsible deployment, with defined governance processes spanning design and development through deployment, monitoring and continual improvement.

The achievement advances etisalat's ambition to become a leading AI-powered and enabling telco by reinforcing its Responsible AI Framework with defined requirements for governance, accountability and continual improvement.

The certification also complements the UAE's wider ambition to lead in AI investment, capability development and the safe use of AI. By combining innovation with independently assessed governance, etisalat UAE is strengthening the foundations for trusted AI-enabled services and responsible collaboration with customers, technology partners and stakeholders.