Freedom Telecom International (FTI), a subsidiary of Freedom Holding Corp. (FRHC), and global technology group e& have entered into an agreement establishing a structured framework to capture business opportunities worldwide.
e& international’s Khaled Hegazy and FTI’s Johannes Hummer signed the agreement during MWC26.
The arrangement creates a platform for the two organizations to engage a wider circle of telecom operators and contribute to their growth, while maintaining full operational independence.
e& brings diverse telecom expertise gathered throughout its operating footprint, such as advanced capabilities in commercial optimization, digital transformation, and large-scale operational execution. FTI, through its parent Freedom Holding Corp., commands expertise on the creation, development, and operation of a diversified digital ecosystem encompassing financial technology platforms, digital banking, and investment services, as well as loyalty and customer-experience solutions.
Khaled Hegazy, Chief Operations Officer, e& international, commented: At e& international, we look for partnerships that create practical routes to growth for operators seeking to strengthen performance and expand their digital service capabilities. This agreement with Freedom Telecom International gives us a clear framework to explore those opportunities together, combining our experience in commercial optimization, digital transformation, and operational execution with Freedom’s ecosystem expertise. It also provides a structured basis for engagement across markets while preserving the independence of both organizations.
The agreement comes at a time when telecom operators and digital financial ecosystems are seeking new ways to collaborate through clearly delineated models. The framework is designed to spark dialogues with operators that are looking to advance their telecom and digital services capabilities or aspire to advance their fintech and digital services infrastructure.
Timur Turlov, Founder & CEO of Freedom Holding Corp., said: Building the Freedom ecosystem in Kazakhstan has given us deep experience across multiple areas of digital transformation, and through this journey we have seen growing interest from global organizations to leverage the technologies we have developed. We believe this new structure with e& provides an additional channel through which such conversations can take place, as opportunities arise in various markets.
Johannes Hummer, CEO of Freedom Telecom International, added: In the past year, we have encountered the telecom-fintech convergence topic frequently in various global forums. Many international organizations I speak to are keen to learn about digital infrastructure and ecosystem models—like the one we have been developing in Kazakhstan. With a clear engagement structure in place between FTI and e&, we hope to broaden the circle of interested organizations and the projects we realize will be key to our growth.