Zain goes live in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Zain, the leading mobile operator in 22 countries across the Middle East and Africa announces the launch of commercial services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, commencing August 26, 2008. With the launch, the Kingdom joins and connects to ‘One Network’, the Group’s renowned, and the world’s first, borderless mobile service offering over 45 million Zain customers in 16 countries favorable rates, free of high roaming charges for cross-border communications.

At launch date, Zain’s coverage area will cover 95% of the Kingdom’s population with its state-of-the-art mobile network which will initially cover 53% of the population in 36 major cities and 14 highways spanning over 4,000 kms. The remaining coverage area will be attained initially through a complimentary countrywide roaming service. Zain will introduce high-speed 3.5G broadband technology to approximately half of the Saudi population offering the latest 3.5G services that include television, video-calling, rich multimedia content and even faster internet access. Zain’s network will be further expanded in stages to eventually cover the entire Kingdom.

On this momentous occasion, Zain Group CEO Dr Saad Al Barrak said “we are delighted to have launched services in the economic powerhouse of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and we intend to fulfill our promise to offer the community world-class telecom services. The experience and resourcefulness of all 22 Zain operations are all committed to supporting the Saudi operation. Coupled with the impressive economic growth that the Kingdom is experiencing, we are confident that all our stakeholders in the Kingdom and beyond will reap excellent rewards in future years.”

Dr. Al Barrak also commented on the role One Network would be playing on wooing new customers. “We believe that being connected to such a valuable service will be one of many factors that will attract Saudi customers to Zain,” he declared. “The attractiveness of and continual expansion of the ‘One Network’ will play a key role in Zain attaining its year 2011 targets of attaining 150 million customers and being a top-ten global mobile operator”

Enabling cross-border communications at favorable rates free of high roaming charges, ‘One Network’ provides loved ones the opportunity to stay connected as well as stimulating trade and enriching livelihoods, both economically and socially.