Zain
 |
It has been suggested that Mobile Telecommunications Company, Celtel and Zain Jordan be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) |
| Zain Group | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Type | Private |
| Founded | 1983 as MTC [1] |
| Headquarters |  Kuwait |
| Area served | 21 countries in Middle East and Africa [2] |
| Key people | Dr.Saad Al Barrak, CEO Mr.Asa'ad Al Banwan, Non-Executive Chairman Mr.Haitham Al Khaled, COO Mr.Tony Tasca, HRM [3] |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Products | Mobile Telecommunications Broadband and internet |
| Revenue |  4,168 Billion
USD (2006) [4] |
| Net income | 1,050 Billion
USD (2006)[4] |
| Employees | 13,000 (2007) [5] |
| Slogan | Zain, A wonderful world. |
| Website | Zain.com |
Zain Group ( formerly MTC ) is Multinational Corporation specializing in Mobile
Telecommunications. Its area of operations include the seven countries in the
Middle East, Kuwait, Jordan,
Bahrain and Sudan as Zain, in Iraq as mtc atheer, in Lebanon as
mtc touch, and in 14 sub-Saharan countries in Africa as
Celtel :
Zain Group
The group was founded in 1983, under the name Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) and has since pioneered mobile and paging communications in Kuwait and the Middle East. Zain was the first mobile phone operator in the region and now spans eighteen countries with over one hundred million subscribers.
Prior to complete re-branding of all its operations, Zain's ventures were marketed under different brand names. Whilst the
parent company was known as MTC, the group's operations were known as known as MTC-Vodafone in Bahrain and at home in Kuwait, MTC Ahteer in Iraq,
Fastlink in Jordan, MTC Touch in Lebanon and Celtel in
Worldwide Presence
Zain operate in 21 countries 7 Middle Eastern and 14 sub-Saharan African countries with over 13,000 employees providing a
comprehensive range of mobile voice and data services to over 32.145 million active individual and business customers as of June
30, 2007
Zain Jordan
Zain Jordan (formerly known as Fastlink ) is the largest Mobile Telecommunications Company and one of the best known brands in Jordan founded in 1994. In 2003 the operation joined the Zain Group (then MTC) in a deal 423.9 Million USD that was at the time the single largest acquisition in the Middle East and the largest private sector investment in Jordan. Fastlink (now Zain Jordan) had 1,700 cell sites offering GSM/GPRS coverage to 99.9% of the populated areas in Jordan
Fact Box (as at June 30, 2007)
Establishment date: 1994 Staff: 1,100 employees Active Customers: 1.941 million Market share: 47% Roaming: International Voice roaming agreements with 288 operators on 6 continents
GPRS and MMS roaming in 64 countries with 121 operators
Milestones
June 2007 First Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) system in the region, February 2007 Start of deployment of Fiber Optic Transmission Technology. January 2006 Established its ISP arm, Fastlink Data Feb 2005 Introduced 2.75 G (EDGE) technology October 2005 Offered international gateway services directly through Company’s network January 2003 MTC acquired 91.6% of Fastlink in 2003, in the largest single acquisition in
the Middle East and the largest private sector investment in Jordan at the
time
July 2002 Introduced the MMS for the first time in the Arab World. Jan 2002 Introduced the 2.5G GPRS technology September 1995 Established as the first mobile phone operator in Jordan
Awards
February 2007 First to introduce the BlackBerry service in 2007, for which it was awarded Research in Motion's (RIM) International Award of Excellence, the only company in the Middle East to receive this honor January 2006 Won the regional telecom magazine CommsMEA’s award in the category “Best New Non-voice Service” for its BLOG service, which provides an online interactive forum where users can set up their own Blogs and publish articles and thoughts by using the web, MMS and SMS
For more information visit: www.jo.zain.com
The Meaning of Zain
Zain in Kuwaiti dialect means good or nice. [1]
Celtel
is a telecommunications company operating in several African countries and is a subsidiary of Mobile Telecommunications Company, or "MTC" in short. It was founded by Sudanese-born Mo Ibrahim.
History
Originally known as "MSI Cellular Investments", the company began operating in 1998. In January 2004, the company name was changed to "Celtel International". In April 2005 the company was acquired by and became a subsidiary of the Mobile Telecommunications Company. Celtel now spans over 15 countries in Africa with over $750 million in investments.
Celtel operates in the following countries:
Burkina Faso 
Chad
Republic of Congo
Democratic Republic of Congo
Gabon
Kenya
Madagascar - Madacom
Malawi
Niger
Nigeria -
taking over from Vmobile Nigeria[2]
Sierra Leone
Sudan
Tanzania
Uganda
Zambia
It currently has 20 million subscribers -[3]
One Network
In September 2006 Celtel launched "One Network", the world's first borderless network across East Africa. One Network enables its subscribers in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to roam free between these countries, thereby scrapping roaming charges, making calls at local rates, receiving incoming calls free of charge, and recharging with local top up cards. This was a World's First.
In June 2007 Celtel's One Network that covers Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda has been extended to Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Congo. The One Network will automatically activate upon crossing the geographical border into one of the six countries with no prior registration or sign-up fee. Celtel says it is moving towards a seamless network in all 15 African countries in which it operates. -[4]
In June 2007, Celtel International announced plans to add three more Celtel country networks to its "One Network". The additional countries are Malawi, Sudan (where it operates under the Mobitel brand), and Zambia. This further expansion would bring the coverage of One Network to nine of the 15 African countries in which Celtel operates. -[5]
On Septemper 2007 Celtel's Parent Company MTC Group adopted a new name Zain(Arabic for ‘beautiful, good and wonderful) unifying it's different brands in 21 Countries. [6]. In Africa the Zain Group will continue to trade under the Celtel brand.[7]
Milestones
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1983 | MTC established as the first mobile telecom company in the region |
| 1986 | Introduced ETACS in Kuwait |
| 1994 | Introduced GSM in Kuwait. One of the 1st to do so in the region |
| 1999 | Among the 1st to introduce prepaid services in the region |
| 2000 | Kuwait mobile market opened up to competition |
| 2001 | Government of Kuwait reduces stake from 49% to 25% |
| September 2002 | Branding agreement with Vodafone in Kuwait- operation branded as MTC-Vodafone |
| January 2003 | Acquired 91.5% of Fastlink- Jordan’s leading mobile operator for US$424 million taking total holding to 96.5% |
| April 2003 | Awarded 2nd GSM license in Bahrain- operation branded as MTC Vodafone |
| December 2003 | Awarded one of three GSM licenses in Iraq –operation branded as MTC Atheer |
| December 2003 | Bahrain operation 1st to launch 3G nationwide in the region |
| April 2004 | Awarded management agreement for one of Lebanon’s mobile operations - operation branded as MTC Touch |
| March 2005 | Entered into agreement to acquire Celtel Africa for US$3.36 billion |
| May 2005 | Acquisition of 85% of Celtel shares for US$2.84 billion completed |
| November 16, 2005 | MTC completes 100% capital increase through rights issue raising $2.3 billion to fund future expansion |
| December 13, 2005 | MTC subsidiary Celtel acquires Madacom, an operator based in Madagascar with over 200,000 customers |
| February 6, 2006 | MTC subsidiary Celtel acquires the remaining 61% of Mobitel in Sudan from Sudatel in deal valued $1.332 billion, thus taking ownership to 100% |
| February 15, 2006 | MTC launches a first of its kind research report “Socio-Economic Impact of Mobile Phones in the Arab World” |
| May 21, 2006 | MTC first in the region to launch 3.5G (HSDPA) commercially in Bahrain |
| May 31, 2006 | MTC subsidiary Celtel acquires a controlling stake of 65% in Vmobile, one of Nigeria’s leading mobile telecom operators with over 5 million customers for US$1.005 billion |
| June 30, 2006 | MTC Group of companies half-year consolidated revenues reach KD 501.32 million (USD 1.72 billion) for the 6 months ended June 30, 2006, an increase of 121% over the same period in 2005 and consolidated net income of KD 254.06 million (USD 871.55 million), an increase of 55% compared to the same period last year. |
| July 27, 2006 | MTC signs the general syndication agreement for a US$ 4 billion credit facility that will be used to fund MTC’s future acquisitions and general corporate needs |
| Sept 27, 2006 | MTC subsidiary Celtel International, the leading pan-African mobile telecommunications operator launched One Network, the first ever borderless mobile network in the world allowing customers to move freely across geographic borders without roaming call surcharges and without having to pay to receive incoming calls. |
| Oct 21, 2006 | MTC market capitalization exceeds USD $15 billion |
| December 13, 2006 | MTC raises USD$1.2 billion in Murahaba facility from 29 leading international financial institutions |
| December 31, 2006 | MTC Group of companies full-year consolidated revenues reach KD 1.21 billion (USD 4.167 billion) for the 12 months ended December 31, 2006, an increase of 109% over the same period in 2005 and consolidated net income of KD 305.3.06 million (USD 1.051 Billion), an increase of 65% compared to the same period last year. |
| January 30, 2007 | MTC launches ACE -an implementation strategy to realize the target of the 3x3x3 vision. ACE seeks to extract superior value from existing assets through three main thrusts: Accelerating the growth in Africa; Consolidating the existing assets; and Expanding into adjacent markets. Through implementation of the ACE strategy, MTC’s new goals by the year 2011 are to attain a US$ 6 Billion EBITDA exceeding 70 million customers and to become one of the top ten leading telecom companies in the world by market capitalization. |
| March 24, 2007 | The MTC-led consortium announces that it has been successful in making the highest bid for the third mobile telecommunications licence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (“KSA”) having bid SAR·22.91 billion (US$6.109 billion). The award of the licence is subject to approval from the KSA’s Council of Ministers. This licence will give MTC a presence in the largest market in the Gulf Cooperation Council (“GCC”) in terms of population and the largest economy in the Middle East and Africa, reinforcing MTC’s position as a leading emerging markets operator. |
| March 25, 2007 | MTC's market capitalization exceeds USD$20 billion, AGM approves a one for two stock dividend (1:2) plus a 100 fils cash dividend. |
| June 30, 2007 | MTC Group of companies half-year consolidated revenues reach US$2.77 billion and net revenues of US$515 million. MTC’s market capitalization exceeds US$30 billion. |
| July 7, 2007 | MTC Consortium’s official notification to establish 3rd mobile operator in KSA |
| August 17, 2007 | MTC Atheer secures 15-year nationwide Iraq mobile licence for US$1.25 billion. |
| September 8, 2007 | MTC Group's master-brand and four operations in Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain and Sudan rebrand to Zain
|
References
- ^ a b Milestones Zain.com
- ^ Worldwide Presence Zain.com
- ^ Zain Management Zain.com
- ^ a b Financial Highlights For December 31, 2006 Zain.com
- ^ Overview Zain.com
External links
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