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| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1983 as MTC[1] |
| Headquarters |  Kuwait |
| Area served | 24 countries in Middle East and Africa[2] |
| Key people | Dr.Saad Al Barrak, CEO Mr.Asaad Al Banwan, Chairman of the Board of Directors Mr. Barrak Al-Sabeeh, Assistant Group CEO for Business Development & Government Relations Mr.Sam Deeb, Chief Financial Officer Mr.Haitham Al Khaled, Chief Strategy Officer Mr.Khalid Al-Omar, Chief Technical Officer Mr. Ibrahim Adel, Chief Communications Officer Dr. Tony Tasca, Chief Human Resources Officer Mr. Tito Alai, Chief Commercial Officer Mr.Mohammed Rafi, Chief Information Officer Mr. Mohammad Shabib, Chief Regulatory Officer Mr. Salah Al Fouzan, Chief Business Development Officer Mr. Christopher Gabriel, CEO Africa Mr. Khaled Al Hajeri, CEO of Zain in Kuwait Mr.Mahmoud Hashish, CEO Middle East [3] |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Products | Mobile Telecommunications, Fixed Lines Broadband and Internet |
| Revenue | ▲ 7,441 Billion USD (2008)[4] |
| Net income | ▲ 1,196 Billion USD (2008)[4] |
| Employees | 15,000+ (2008)[5] |
| Website | www.zain.com |
Zain Group, formerly MTC or Mobile Telecommunications Company, is a multinational corporation headquartered in Kuwait specialized in mobile telecommunications operating in the Middle East and Africa.
Contents |
Worldwide presence
Zain operates in 22 countries with over 15,000 employees providing a range of mobile voice and data services to over 63.5 million active individuals and business customers by end-year 2008.[6] Its area of operations include the 6 countries in the Middle East: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon (as mtc touch), and in 16 countries in Africa: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. In 2009, Zain, in a joint venture with Al Ajial Investment Fund acquired a 31% state in the Moroccan telecom operator Wana.[7] Zain is also in acquisition talks with Palestinian operator Paltel.[8].
As of May 2009 it was reported that Kuwaiti mobile operator Zain acquires Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel, plans to merge it with leading Jordanian cellular company it controls.[9].
Zain operates in the following countries:
Bahrain - http://www.bh.zain.com
Burkina Faso - http://www.bf.zain.com
Chad - http://www.td.zain.com
Democratic Republic of the Congo - http://www.cd.zain.com
Gabon - http://www.ga.zain.com
Ghana - http://www.gh.zain.com
Iraq - http://www.iq.zain.com Website under construction
Jordan - http://www.jo.zain.com
Kenya - http://www.ke.zain.com- Kuwait - http://www.kw.zain.com
Lebanon - http://www.mtctouch.com.lb
Madagascar - http://www.mg.zain.com
Malawi - http://www.mw.zain.com
Niger - http://www.ne.zain.com
Nigeria - http://www.ng.zain.com
Palestine - Will be announced later
Republic of the Congo - http://www.cg.zain.com
Saudi Arabia - http://www.sa.zain.com
Sierra Leone - http://www.sl.zain.com
Sudan - http://www.sd.zain.com
Tanzania - http://www.tz.zain.com
Uganda - http://www.ug.zain.com
Zambia - http://www.zm.zain.com
Overview
Zain, formerly known as Mobile Telecommunication Company Vodafone (MTC Vodafone), began its operation in Kuwait in 1983 as the region’s first mobile operator, and since the initiation of their “3x3x3” expansion strategy in 2003, they have expanded rapidly to other countries.
It is this strategy that will make Zain a global player in three stages: regional, international and global, with each stage completed in three years. In essence, through acquisitions, partnerships and green-field opportunities, Zain aims to achieve in nine years what other companies have taken more than 27 years to achieve. If successful this strategy will see Zain become a leading mobile services provider on the global stage by the end of the year 2011.
Financial highlights
Zain is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange. There are no restrictions on Zain shares as the company’s capital is 100% free float and publicly traded. The largest shareholder is the Kuwait Investment Authority (24.6%).
On September 20, 2008, Zain Group announced the successful completion of its capital increase raising US$4.49 billion (KWD1.2 billion) with 99% of all shareholders subscribing. The number of subscribed shares exceeded 1.4 billion, bringing the total number of Zain shares to 4.28 billion with total shareholders’ equity reaching US$6.42 billion. The amount raised is unprecedented in Kuwait’s history exceeding all expectations. As at December 31, 2008, Zain is serving a growing customer base of over 63.54 million active customers in 22 countries in the Middle East and Africa, reflecting an increase of 50% when compared to 2007.
Key Performance Indicators as at 31 December 2008:
- Total Managed Active Customers 63.54 million up 50% compared to 2007;
- Consolidated Revenues US$ 7.44 billion up 26% compared 2007;
- EBITDA US$ 2.78 billion up 15% compared to 2007;
- Net Income US$ 1.2 billion up 6% compared to 2007;
- EPS US$ 0.33
At the beginning of 2007, Zain launched 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, Zain's new goals by the year 2011 are to attain:
- a US$ 6 Billion EBITDA exceed 150 million customers.
- to become one of the top ten leading telecom companies in the world by market capitalization.
In addition to securing the best possible returns for shareholders consistent with a high standard of corporate governance Zain considers itself defined by a commitment to excellence in providing world-class mobile / data services and an ethos of corporate social responsibility in supporting communities, offering employment and creating business opportunities wherever it operates.
It is important to Zain that its economic, social and cultural projects have a positive impact on the people of all the countries in which we operate.
One Network
One Network is the world’s first borderless mobile telecoms network service launched by Zain in Africa in September 2006 in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. By November 2007, a further nine African countries Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Chad, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan became connected offering over 400 million people in twelve countries across east, west and central Africa the opportunity to communicate freely across geographical borders without roaming call surcharges and without having to pay to receive incoming calls, enjoying the benefits of being treated as ‘local’ customers in any of these countries.
On 14 April 2008, the service was extended and introduced to Zain’s operations in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan and Sudan where over 14 million Zain customers also now enjoy the same One Network benefits.
On August 1, 2008 Zain linked two continents with One Network with Bahrain, Iraq and Jordan connecting to the 12 African One Network countries. On August 26, KSA joined the One Network with the launch of commercial services.
Currently the service is presently available to more that 46 million Zain Group customers in 16 countries spread across the African continent and Middle East region.[1]
One Network Highlighted Features:
- The service revolutionized and replaced the concept of roaming in and fully changed the way how people are communicated with friends, colleagues and family members while away from home.
- Mix of innovative technical solutions, business processes and consistency of Brand attributes delivers relevant ground breaking service through user friendly, easy to understand and seamless customer experience...it is a non-burdening experience and is automatically activated when Zain customers cross borders.
- It provides very affordable and effective cross-border communications keeping friends and families connected.
- Is a key enabler to economic growth - encouraging SME’s and individuals to more easily expand into new markets.
- Is a demonstration of how Telco’s and regulators/governments can work together for the benefit of societies and economies.
- Tangible evidence of how complex technological solutions and processes can make life simpler through delivering very user-friendly and cost-efficient mobile communications.
- In the independent market research conducted by Research International, One Network was found to be second most important attribute to customers’ preference decision towards the Mobile Operator, ahead of Price and Network quality. Not surprisingly more than 5 million customers used the service at least once since service introduction.
- Reporting on the launch of One Network, The Economist declared that the: “Zain Group (Celtel) has in effect created a unified market of the kind that regulators can only dream about in Europe.”
- Zain Group aims to expand One Network to all its operations in Africa and the Middle East, linking them all.
Milestones
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1983 | MTC established as the first mobile telecom company in the region. |
| 1994 | Introduced GSM in Kuwait. One of the 1st to do so in the region. |
| 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. |
| 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$1.005 billion. |
| Sept 27, 2006 | MTC subsidiary Celtel International, the leading pan-African mobile telecommunications operator launched One Network, the first ever borderless mobile network in the world allowing customers to move freely across geographic borders without roaming call surcharges and without having to pay to receive incoming calls. |
| December 31, 2006 | MTC Group of companies full-year consolidated revenues reach KD 1.21 billion (USD 4.167 billion) for the 12 months ended December 31, 2006, an increase of 109% over the same period in 2005 and consolidated net income of KD 305.3.06 million (USD 1.051 Billion), an increase of 65% compared to the same period last year. |
| January 30, 2007 | MTC launches ACE -an implementation strategy to realize the target of the 3x3x3 vision. ACE seeks to extract superior value from existing assets through three main thrusts: Accelerating the growth in Africa; Consolidating the existing assets; and Expanding into adjacent markets. Through implementation of the ACE strategy, MTC’s new goals by the year 2011 are to attain a US$ 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. |
| 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. |
| October 22, 2007 | Celtel International, a subsidiary of Zain announced it has signed an agreement to acquire 75% of Western Telesystems Ltd (Westel) from the Government of Ghana for USD 120 million. The Government of Ghana remains a shareholder in Westel with a 25% holding through the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation. |
| November 22, 2007 | Zain subsidiary Celtel International announces the extension of ‘One Network’, the world’s first borderless mobile network in Africa to an additional six countries to include Burkina Faso, Chad, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan. These countries now join the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in the network which was initially launched in September 2006 and has been expanded due to increased demand. The extension of this technological break-through now offers the possibility for nearly half of Africa’s population to make calls at local rates across 12 countries throughout the continent. |
| December 1, 2007 | MTC-Atheer in Iraq Acquired Iraqna (leading mobile operator in Iraq) for US$1.2 billion from Orascom telecoms holding. Zain's market share in Iraq is figured up to 72% (7 million subscribers). The new combined mobile network is renamed Zain Iraq (zain IQ on mobiles), and the two older networks (Iraqna and Atheer) disappear. |
| January 5, 2008 | Beginning today, two Iraqi mobile telecommunications networks - MTC Atheer and Iraqna - change their names to Zain (www.iq.zain.com) as both operators adopt the new corporate master brand of the Zain Group. |
| January 30, 2008 | Zain announces that in the fiscal year 2007 it recorded the highest ever net profits in the history of Kuwait's private sector history. Zain recorded consolidated revenues of USD 5.91 billion (KD1.677 billion) for 2007, an increase of 32% compared to 2006. The consolidated EBITDA increased by 25% compared to last year and reached USD 2.56 billion (KD 725.34 million). Zain also announced a milestone consolidated net income of US$1.130 billion (KD320.45 million) an increase of 11% on 2006. Active Customers grew impressively and reached 42.4 million (inclusive of 3 million Iraqna customers, acquired on December 31, 2007), an increase of 57% on 2006. |
| April 14, 2008 | Zain has achieved another first by bringing its groundbreaking borderless “One Network” mobile service to four countries in the Middle East. This service, which made telecom history when it was launched in Africa, today allows Zain’s 14 million customers in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan and Sudan to be part of a pan Middle East mobile community, providing travelling Zain customers the opportunity to communicate between these countries and be treated as local customers in terms of pricing, while using their home network service. |
| August 1, 2008 | Zain group rebrands its Africa operations from "Celtel" to "Zain" in line with its objectives of operating under one brand in all the 22 countries. |
| September 20, 2008 | Zain announces the successful completion of its capital increase raising US$4.49 billion (KWD1.2 billion) with 99% of all shareholders subscribing. This was the largest ever capital raising in Kuwait’s history. The proceeds of this capital increase will be used to finance future strategic expansion plans and meet financial commitments. |
| May18, 2009 | Zain enters into agreement to merge Jordan operation with Palestinian operator Paltel. |
References
- ^ a b Milestones Zain.com
- ^ Worldwide Presence Zain.com
- ^ Zain Management Zain.com
- ^ a b Financial Highlights For December 31, 2008 Zain.com
- ^ Overview Zain.com
- ^ Zain 2008 results
- ^ Zain invests in Moroccan operator ‘Wana’ Zain.com
- ^ Paltel close to Zain merger TelecomFinance Middle East & Africa 2009
- ^ Kuwaiti mobile operator Zain acquires Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel
External links
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