MTC Group, the leading telecommunications mobile provider in 21 countries across the Middle East and Africa, today announced it has re-branded to Zain (www.zain.com) which becomes the Group's corporate master brand with immediate effect. In Africa the Zain Group will continue to trade under the Celtel brand.
Four country operations in Kuwait and Bahrain, (both formerly MTC-Vodafone), Jordan (formerly Fastlink) and Sudan (formerly Mobitel) will immediately re-brand to Zain. The Group will commence operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the Zain brand in early 2008 after being awarded the third mobile telecommunications licence in July 2007. Additionally, the Group's successful operation in Iraq, mtc atheer, will also re-brand to Zain in the near future after recently winning an extended 15 year nationwide licence.
Dr. Saad Al Barrak, Zain Group's chief executive officer, said: "Zain will bring together all our operations under a single, strong and unique identity. We believe it is the optimal platform upon which we can build a global brand with the ultimate goal of better serving our customers. It will propel the Group towards becoming one of the top ten global mobile telecommunications companies in the next four years."
The new logo
The Zain brand and its new theme - A Wonderful World - capture the energy, inspiration and diversity of the Group's customers, employees and other stakeholders. The new logo and its colourful identity reflect the Group's freshness, boldness and vitality with the 'swirl' communicating the idea of an aura, something important to human life echoing growth, progression and diversity.
The new identity was developed in partnership with world leading consulting firms and advertising agencies. Brand architect Tito Alai, the Group's chief commercial officer who also developed the Zain Group's successful Celtel brand in Africa, said: "The name Zain was selected from a list of over 400 after extensive research across many countries and cultures validated its broad global appeal.
"Although it was chosen for its simplicity, memorability and ease of pronunciation across the global marketplace, as an added bonus Zain was found to be rich in positive connotations. For example, in Arabic, Zain means 'beautiful, good and wonderful", in Latin it means 'dark horse' and it has many positive meanings in other cultures found in Africa, Asia, Europe and beyond." Notably Mr Alai adds: "Zain tested extremely well among cross sections of the potential global audience and with the planned investment will become a formidable brand within a short period."
The Group and global brand benefits
The Group is recognized as the pre-eminent company in the Middle East and Africa region. The company has witnessed exponential growth over the last four years emerging from a single operator in Kuwait in 2003 to a 13,000-employee company offering a range of advanced mobile voice and data services to over 32 million customers. The Group's economic and social contributions to the 21 countries in which it operates are both extensive and significant.
With a current market capitalization exceeding US$ 30 billion the Group shares will continue to be publicly traded on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) and the Group's stock ticker code 'TELE' will change to 'ZAIN' with immediate effect.
"Customers will directly benefit from a respected and recognized global brand. All our customers will come to experience and enjoy a similar and consistent quality of service, reliability and standards of excellence wherever they live, work or travel in the Middle East or Africa and later globally as we continue to expand our boundaries of operation," added Dr Al Barrak, "They will benefit through synergies of the common products and services that are currently offered and of those that will be developed in the future."
One Network
For example, Zain Group operations in six African countries currently branded as Celtel - Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya , Tanzania and Uganda - have already created One Network, the world's first borderless mobile network. This serves 160 million people or approximately 20% of Africa's population.
"In a region that is historically dependant on freedom of movement across borders, this service fits the needs of our customers perfectly, breaking down barriers and making life better for business, families and individuals from West to East, from the Atlantic to the Indian Oceans," said Dr. Al Barrak.
One Network gives all Celtel post paid and prepaid customers in these six operations the opportunity to move freely across geographical borders without roaming call surcharges and without having to pay for incoming calls.
Customers also receive the same services that they enjoy in their home country; such as voicemail and customer service in their local languages and airtime credit transfer for prepaid customers. The One Network service is automatically activated upon crossing the geographic border into one of the six countries, with no prior registration required or sign-up fee charged.
Recent highlights
In early September 2007 the Group won three prestigious industry awards including Overall Operator of the Year among both fixed line and mobile service operators at the second annual CommsMEA telecom awards for the Middle East and Africa. It also won New Telecoms Service of the Year for One Network and Dr. Saad Al Barrak was also honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award for his pioneering efforts in the industry.
"The Zain brand launch is a key part of our stated corporate strategy of continuously improving what we offer to our customers while simultaneously progressing with our profitable expansion. It will help increase revenue through customer acquisition and ARPU generation from consumers identifying with a global brand. In the longer term, having a global brand will drive efficiencies across our markets, creating greater brand equity and value for shareholders," concluded Dr Al Barrak.
About Zain:
Effective September 8, 2007, Zain is the new corporate master brand name for the Group (formerly MTC), the leading mobile telecommunications provider in the Middle East and Africa. The company operates under the Zain brand in Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain and Sudan. In Iraq it is currently known as mtc-atheer, in Lebanon as mtc-touch and in 14 sub-Saharan countries in Africa as Celtel: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
Zain plans to commence operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in early 2008 and with the recent award of an extended 15 year nationwide licence in Iraq, mtc atheer will soon rebrand to Zain.
In January 2007, the Group launched the ACE (Acceleration, Consolidation, Expansion) strategy to realize its 3x3x3 vision of becoming a top-ten global mobile operator by 2011. The Zain brand is wholly owned by Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC and is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (Stock ticker: ZAIN). The company's market capitalisation at 6 September, 2007 exceeded US$ 30 billion.
Enquiries: Mr Antoine Aboukhalil, Media and External Relations Manager, Zain Group Email: info@zain.com, Tel: +961 3 733 880 or +965 900 6974
