At a strategic meeting with senior Zain executives from, Zain Group CEO Saad Al Barrak this week announced a new programme to propel the company towards its 2011 target of being a top ten global mobile telecommunications operator. ‘Drive2011’ will focus on customer-facing services and commercial activities while centralising or outsourcing some back office/non-core functions to strategic partners.

The programme will look maximise economies of scale and realise significant efficiencies, allowing Zain to provide communication services such as voice, SMS and data at an optimum cost level. Drive2011 is expected to improve Zain’s operating margin by 5 per cent within 12 months.

The Zain Group will align its head office and operations structures in accordance with the new operating model. This will result in Zain reducing its current 15,500 global workforce by 2,000 – a 13 per cent reduction across the board. Zain’s operations in Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malawi and Sierra Leone have already begun the process.

In a move aimed at tackling the challenges ahead and attaining other 2011 targets of 150 million customers and a US$6 billion EBITDA, Al Barrak also announced several senior management changes at both group and country operation level.

Omani mobile reseller Friendi Mobile today announced that its services would go live tomorrow, Tuesday April 28, marking the much anticipated official launch of the first mobile reseller/MVNO in the MENA region. 

The launch will see the release of Friendi Mobile starter packs across hundreds of shops in Oman, at a cost of RO 2 (US$5.20), which includes the SIM along with an introductory promotion of 100 free minutes and 100 free SMS for those who are among the first to purchase a starter pack.

Friendi Mobile offers three different recharge card values, with the users being able to choose from amounts of 500 Bz, RO 1.5 and RO 4. In addition, the reseller permits users to choose recharge amounts as low as 10 Bz, which is a first in the Omani market.

“A Friendi Mobile SIM will not only offer a competitive rate for local calls as well as exciting value added services, but our international call rates are the lowest mobile rates in the market, with for example calls to the UK for as low as 179 Bz and India 159 Bz, commented Antti Arponen, CEO of Friendi Oman. “We have been looking forward to launching our product in Oman. In a nutshell, Friendi Mobile provides great prices, a high quality customer experience plus exciting and relevant services, setting us apart from the competition.”

The call rate for ‘on-network’ Friendi Mobile calls is a flat rate of 39 Bz per minute anytime, with no peak or off-peak timing, while Friendi Mobile users can call other local networks for 39 Bz per minute off- peak.

Friendi Mobile starter packs are now available from Lulu, Safeer, Zahra phones, KM Trading, Zahrath Al Hanna and hundreds of other outlets throughout Oman. The launch will also give those who pre-booked their numbers prior to the Friendi Mobile launch the chance to be allocated their chosen numbers.

Friendi Group CEO, Mikkel Vinter told Comm. recently that the reseller had registered a significant five digit number of pre-booked subscribers during the campaign.

Oman’s second mobile reseller, Renna, expects to launch commercially in the coming weeks.

Etisalat and Nokia have announced a joint collaboration to provide access to advanced mobile Internet based services. These services include maps, navigation and games on Nokia devices, based on the Ovi services platform provided by Nokia.

Left: Urpo Karjalainen, senior vice president, operator sales, Nokia; right: Essa Al Haddad, Etisalat’s chief marketing officer

In the first phase of the collaboration, Etisalat’s UAE mobile customers will be able to access Ovi Maps and N-Gage games on their Nokia devices, through straight forward payment mechanism. Subscribers to Ovi Maps and purchasers of N-Gage games can choose to combine their payments for these advanced mobile Internet based services with their Etisalat account. The payment will be directed to their account automatically, if chosen accordingly, while customers will also have the existing option of paying over their credit cards.

The UAE will be the first country in the Middle East and Africa to roll out this service during Q209, while the cooperation will be extended to other Etisalat operations in the Middle East and Africa in due course.

“We are excited to be further promoting our good cooperation with Etisalat. As market leaders, this agreement allows us to combine great services with ease of accessibility to provide consumers with a seamless user experience,” said Urpo Karjalainen, senior vice president, operator sales, Nokia.

Ovi allows easy access to Nokia services including maps, navigation, games, messaging and music, as well as the ability to manage, sync, and share personal files or information.

Ovi, the consumer brand for Nokia Internet services, brings together the online world, the mobile device and computer into a consistent consumer experience.

As the telecoms industry weathers turbulent times, this year’s Mobile World Congress focussed on both opportunities and risks for the year ahead. Hot topics included mobile broadband, application stores, the new financial environment, and smart cooperation. Value Partners’ Santino Saguto explains

Santino Saguto, partner and managing director of Value Partners Dubai

More than ever, this year’s Mobile World Congress was an important test of the mood of an industry starting to feel the pinch of the economic downturn. However, despite the general gloom, the mobile industry showed many reasons for optimism. A few chief executives, including Vittorio Colao, CEO of Vodafone, pleaded for government action or a lift of “regulatory activism”, to encourage investment in networks and help the telecoms industry to help pull countries out of recession.

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Last month representatives from the CDMA community in Africa met in Cape Town for their annual stock-taking event, which was focussed on assessing the progress the technology continues to make on the continent. Jay Srage, Qualcomm’s vice president of business development for the Middle East and North Africa, offers his view on the impact wireless technology is having in emerging markets

Qualcomm’s Jay Srage believes mobile computing has opened up an entirely new market segment category full of opportunities for the wireless industry

As borders blur and people become more mobile than ever before, what it means to be mobile has begun to fundamentally change. The wireless industry has not escaped this shift. No longer limited to mobile handsets, wireless connectivity has evolved into a broadband technology with global reach, diversified into new device segments and expanded into new markets that either did not exist before or have never been quite so connected. Connected mobility has become a must-have, and mobile devices are gaining ever-greater personalisation and functionality, blurring the lines between what used to be very distinct market segments.

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