Dubai, Nov 29, 2011
Zain Group was awarded the prestigious ‘Best Overall Operator in Africa and Middle East’ at the annual CommsMEA Awards 2011, organised by the region’s foremost business-to-business telecoms publication. This is the 3rd time in the space of six years that Zain Group has been awarded the prestigious award. Furthermore, Zain’s mobile operation in Jordan was selected as the ‘Best Customer Service Provider of the Year’ for its ‘In-Life Care” program.
The awards ceremony took place at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai with a judging panel of international telecom professionals and regional industry peers.
Zain Group’s citation from the judging panel for winning “Overall Operator of the Year,” said that the award was in recognition of the company leading the dynamic trend of mobile communications within the region as a technology leader, with a strong focus on customer service. It also said that Zain has shown that, as well as being a model corporate citizen and fulfilling its brand promise to deliver unrivalled services, it has skilfully adapted to new market conditions.
“Zain, whether in terms of its vibrant brand, strategy and vision, financials, products and services, people, management, communication with, and social support of, the communities it serves, has earned its right to be among the top mobile operators on the globe.”
The panel also added that Zain’s recent transformation on many levels over the past year, after the sale of its 15 African operations, has been remarkable and beneficial for all its stakeholders, indicative of sound management practices.
Commenting on the prestigious award, Mr Nabeel Bin Salamah, Zain Group CEO said, “This acknowledgment rewards and recognises the dedicated efforts of our entire 6,000-strong workforce, all of whom have made Zain the successful company it is today. It is also an affirmation of the Board of Director’s many recent decisions and its strategy to focus on its core and profitable operations.”
Mr Bin Salamah also thanked the 41 million customers that Zain currently serves, saying that, “Our loyal customers are what drives us to perform and deliver exceptional mobile services fulfilling our brand promise of ‘A wonderful world’. Without them and the trust they have placed in the Zain brand we would not have been able to scale the heights of success and be where we are today.”
Zain Group highlights over the past 12 months include:
• The further cementing and enhancing of the Zain brand across the Middle East with ground breaking and innovative media campaigns. The brand is now rated first among all telecom brands in the region
• Exceptional customer growth of 17% over the past 12 months across all operations. Zain now serve 41.4 million active customers
• Impressive net profit growth of 7% over the past 12 months despite intense competition and challenging market conditions
• Billions of dollars invested in upgrading networks including the launch of hi-speed 4G- LTE technology in Saudi Arabia and 3.9G HSPA+ in Bahrain, Kuwait, Sudan and Lebanon, giving Zain’s mobile operations a keener competitive edge in terms of products and services and delivering real value-added to a discerning customer base.
• Expansion and offering of mobile services in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, as well as rolling out a state of the art mobile network in South Sudan
• The successful launches of Mobile Money services in Jordan and IPhone 4 offerings in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait
• Numerous Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs across all operations, including the launch of ‘Drive Zain’, a humanitarian multimedia awareness and action campaign to highlight the dangers of using mobile phones while driving
• Launch of many social media forums (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) for all our operations, allowing customers to know more about Zain and to interact more efficiently with the company.
• Fruitful collaboration with the GSMA on the formation Mobile Privacy Principles and the Mobile Alliance against Child Sexual Abuse Content.
Zain Jordan’s citation by the judging panel for winning the ‘Best Customer Service Provider of the Year’ award noted that, “Zain Jordan has put the Kingdom on the global telecoms map over the years by notching up several technological ‘world firsts’ for its customers. Through its unique ‘In-Life Care’ program, the company has skilfully managed to enhance the customer experience and touch the emotions of its customer base. Additionally the program allowed the company to better understand its customers and develop appropriate solutions to meet their needs, which resulted in improved operational results and more focused efforts towards customer retention and loyalty.”
The judges also noted that, “the ‘In-Life Care” program addresses different stages in the customer’s journey and attends to each stage with a proactive retention and care activity, which enforces consistency and continuity in Customer Relationship Management performance.”
The 6th annual CommsMEA Awards 2011 seek to recognise and reward telecommunications industry professionals and operators that have shown outstanding performance and results in key market segments of the telecommunications industry in the Middle East and Africa.
About Zain
Zain is a leading telecommunications operator across the Middle East providing mobile voice and data services to over 41.4 million active customers as of 30 September 2011. With a commercial presence in 7 countries, Zain operates in the following countries: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and is currently rolling out its network in South Sudan. In Lebanon, the company manages ‘mtc-touch’ on behalf of the government. In Morocco, Zain has a 15.5% stake in Wana Telecom, now branded ‘INWI’, through a joint venture. Zain is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (stock ticker: ZAIN). For more, please email info@zain.com or visit:
