Etisalat\'s Board of Directors has appointed Ahmad Abdulkarim Julfar as group chief executive officer, a newly created role, which comes as part of the telecom operator\'s expansion plans, according to a statement published by Etisalat on Wednesday. Julfar, who joined Etisalat in 1986, was appointed as Etisalat\'s chief operating officer in 2006 and took on the role up until his new appointment. He had also previously served as the general manager for the company\'s Dubai operations, in addition to various other managerial positions. \"Etisalat has a huge potential for growth at a global level and this is one of our key objectives. Meanwhile, in our home market of the UAE, we will continue the pursuit of ensuring that our subscribers have access to the most advanced technology available in the world, and to do it we have adopted a segmented approach to make sure that particular needs of different demographic and business sectors were considered,\" Julfar said in his first statement following the appointment. \"All these and many more initiatives within the UAE ensure that the corporation remains the market leader. I am really honored to lead this phase of the Group, working with local teams and partners to build on the remarkable success and achievements throughout the 18 countries in which we operate,\" he added.