February 7th, 2013 — Issue 36 November/December 2012
Scott Gegenheimer was appointed CEO of Zain Group effective December 2, 2012, and immediately faced the challenge of re-establishing and re-communicating the Kuwait-headquartered company’s strategy given its relative inertia in the last two years 
Gegenheimer was previously CEO of Wataniya Kuwait, from which he departed in June 2012
February 3rd, 2013 — Issue 36 November/December 2012
The anticipation is building in Saudi Arabia with respect to the licensing of three mobile virtual network operators in 2013. The kingdom is seen as offering the business model its greatest chance of success in the region, and interest to participate is high from regional and international parties alike
Saudi’s three incumbent telcos shall be forced to alter their view of the market and their participation in it should they intend to survive the entry of MVNOs in tact
January 28th, 2013 — Issue 36 November/December 2012
Service providers in the Middle East are engaged in a bitter fight to protect and even grow their mobile digital services, though the process is taking some rethinking of old assumptions. Etisalat Group has taken a pro-active position in fashioning a digital services paradigm, and other service providers appear to be taking note 
Etisalat’s Al Shamsi believes the telecom industry brings a great deal to OTT partnerships, which is something that ought to be acknowledged and rewarded in its interactions with them
January 24th, 2013 — Issue 36 November/December 2012
Service providers continue to look to ways to increase revenues that are waning, though for the meantime it appears the more they invest in infrastructure, the less incremental revenue is being driven. Batelco Bahrain’s CEO, Rashid Abdulla, makes the point 
Bahrain Batelco CEO, Rashid Abdulla, believes operators need to differentiate the services being offered, and then charge a premium for certain ones
January 20th, 2013 — Issue 36 November/December 2012
This year’s pick of CEOs has had to work doubly hard in order to secure their positions on the list. The fact that the telecom sector is becoming increasingly nuanced as operators look to generate new revenue streams and partner with new value chain participants, means corporate leaders are having to juggle safe-guarding their existing revenues, managing costs, and trying to grow income all at the same time 
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