Friendi Group has finally entered a strategic cooperative agreement with Zain to provide mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) services in Jordan, approximately two years after it received its original licence. The deal will allow Friendi to leverage capacity from Zain’s network to provide targeted services to specific customer segments under the Friendi banner.
Friendi Group’s Mikkel Vinter and Zain Jordan’s Malek Al Jaber at the signing of the strategic network agreement
The MVNO will offer services to the Jordanian market during the second quarter of 2010 and will target the prepaid consumer market. This is Friendi’s second operation in the Middle East after launching services in Oman in 2009, where it has garnered close to 150,000 subscribers.
While Friendi and Saudi-based mobile distributor and wholesaler i2 have both held MVNO licences in Jordan since 2008, the country’s fiercely competitive mobile landscape had previously deterred network operators Zain, Orange and Umniah from penning any such agreements with the prospective MVNOs.
“Jordan is the second market destination for Friendi Group within the region after launching mobile services in Oman. Our services have been very successful with high demand, something we expect to see in Jordan too,” commented Friendi Group CEO Mikkel Vinter. He added the group plans to launch some products and services in the Jordan that have not been offered before by the other mobile operators.
CEO of Zain Jordan, Malek Al Jaber, said the strategic agreement with Friendi Group was is in line with Zain’s overall strategy based on targeted and segmented acquisitions, as well as offering quality service in spite of the market reaching saturation, with more than 100 per cent mobile penetration.
Al Jaber further noted that Zain is currently working on expanding its network and has assigned JD100 million (US$141 million) this year to increase overall capacity. Zain currently leads the Jordanian market with 2.7 million subscribers and a market share of around 47 per cent.
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