Zain expands Iraqi Network into Kurdistan (Iraq)
Zain’s Iraq subsidiary has announced that it is expanding its network to the governorates of the Kurdistan region in the north of the country. This expansion is the first phase of the company’s plan to cover all areas in the Northern provinces.
The second phase will see coverage extend to remote villages and roads in the north leading to complete coverage of the country. Furthermore, Zain will now include Kurdish alongside Arabic and English as its local languages.
According to Zain Iraq CEO, Emad Makiya, the coverage of Kurdistan will not only be welcomed by the local population, it will play key role in spurring business and accelerate the pace of construction and reconstruction. Only the oil industry has invested more in the region and this surely must demonstrate our commitment to playing a key role in the rehabilitation of this great nation. The company stated that that recently increased security and stability has meant that the company can now expand and improve its network.
In Kurdistan, Zain has established points of sale and has trained local employees to meet the high standards expected from its staff. It has also prepared a broad CSR program to support civil society institutions in the region and is looking forward to being a model corporate citizen in the community.
Zain Iraqi unit gets $400 mn debt facility
The Iraqi unit of Kuwait’s telecom firm Zain stated that it had received a 7-year, $400 million debt facility from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation.
According to Zain, the long-term debt facility will not only help Zain Iraq expand service coverage and improve telecommunications quality throughout Iraq but also help unlock opportunities for entrepreneurship and innovation and increase employment in the key industry.
Asiacell to extend mobile network in 2011 (Iraq)
Iraqi mobile operator Asiacell Communications, a group including Asiacell Iraq (30%), Qatar Telecom (Qtel, 30%) and investment group Merchant Bridge (40%), has signed a network expansion agreements with Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Ericsson, as it is planning to expand its service footprint in the country.
According to the cellco’s Chief Technical and IT officer, Patson Anius, the supply contracts will allow the operator to introduce advanced services tailored to the domestic market. Next year, they will be further expanding their network coverage to include small villages and residential communities in remote areas. They look forward to breaking their own GSM deployment record in Iraq next year.
Asiacell is one of the three cellcos licensed to provide national mobile services, having been awarded its concession in August 2007 at a cost of US$1.25 billion.
In 2009 it deployed 1,490 base transceiver stations (BTSs) on its network, thanks to the build-out of 950 new communication towers, and improved the service capabilities of 450 other cell sites. At the end of September 2010 Asiacell had 7.917 million mobile subscribers, placing it second in the market with a share of 34.8%. It competes with Zain Iraq, Korek Telecom and SanaTel.
Zain Kuwait sign managed contracts with Motorola
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Three-year managed services contract has been signed between the Networks business of Motorola and Zain Kuwait. Zain Kuwait’s 3G networks will be operated and managed by Motorola under the contract besides handling the design, planning, support and optimization to provide high-quality operational and customer experiences.
The optimization of the existing 2G network will be lead by Zain Kuwait’s internal team. In October 2009, Zain Iraq signed a contract with Motorola to improve network performance, to operate and maintain it, as well as to provide training to its technical support team.
There are existing contracts between Zain and Motorola in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Jordan for several different technologies, network domains and service functions.
Asiacell expands coverage in Iraq
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Iraqi mobile operator Asiacell has expanded coverage of its wireless network to the city of Anbar, including the cities of Rawah, Ubaidi, Karbalah, Husaibah and Haditha. The expansion work has taken place under the telco plan to provide nationwide coverage in 2010. The campaign has put special emphasis on the western and southern regions.
Asiacell is the country’s second largest cellco by subscribers behind Zain Iraq, with a customer base of 7.74 million at March 31, 2010 and representing a market share of 37.2%.
According to Asiacell’s Chairman, Faruk Mustafa Rasool, making sustainable investments in its infrastructure is one of its main priorities due to its significant contribution to the development of the Iraqi telecoms sector and in raising the sector’s competitiveness in terms of quality and standards. He added that the telco is proud of being the first company to provide coverage for all of Iraq, and pledge to continue to follow the same ambitious methodology in delivering on its promises to the subscribers through providing them with the best telecom services wherever they are.
Zain reshuffles management of Iraqi subsidiary
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Zain’s Chief Executive, Mr Nabeel Bin Salamah has been appointed to look after the Iraqi subsidiary of the Group while the former Zain Iraq CEO, Mr Ali Al Dahwi, has been appointed special advisor on Iraq for the Zain Group.
According to the company, the move was made on the basis of the company’s long term development in Iraq and will not necessarily mean a change in the strategic direction set out by Mr Al Dahwi. However, no reasons have been given behind the striping of the former CEO of his management role.
Mr Bin Salamah will be represented by Mr Barrak Al Sabeeh in an on-the-ground capacity. The newly-appointed Zain Iraq CFO, Mr Wael Ghanayem will take on the additional role of acting CEO until such time that a new CEO is officially appointed.
Zain to employ Nokia Siemens for expansion work
Zain Iraq, the country’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, has contracted European vendor Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) for a USD150 million job to expand capacity and simplify and modernise the existing core network. Further details were not provided.Zain Iraq was formed at the end of 2007 when cellco MTC Atheer adopted the corporate brand of parent company, the Zain Group of Kuwait, formerly MTC. MTC Atheer won a 15-year national cellular licence in August 2007 for USD1.25 billion. The parent company acquired rival Iraqna from Egyptian group Orascom late last year for USD1.2 billion, and has since consolidated the two networks. The unified infrastructure served well over seven million customers at the end of 2007, a market share of 57%.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
