MyAdhan Blog

Link: Kuwait: Zain stock jumps on earnings outlook

Shares of Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Co (Zain) jumped on Sunday on an upbeat earnings outlook, but analysts warned huge investments in expansion and stiff competition could weigh on profit this year. The third-largest Arab telecom company by market value, which is embarking on a $4.5 billion capital increase, is spending billions of dollars to expand into new markets, including 14 in Africa and a new venture in Saudi Arabia. Zain’s stock, the largest in Kuwait, jumped as much as 5.5 percent on Sunday on volumes double their 90-day average after Zain CEO Saad Al-Barrak forecast 20 percent growth in first-half earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation. While the forecast in Al-Watan daily boosted the shares, Zain’s stock has lost more than a fifth of its value this year, including a 6.1 percent decline since the start of June. According to some analysts, Zain shares - which soared almost 74 percent last year - are still regarded as overvalued by investors. The stock closed at 1.54 dinars ($5.79) on Sunday. “I see the risk of further downside for Zain’s share price,” said Omar Abu Rashed of Frankfurt-Trust, a German fund manager which sold its entire holding of Zain shares earlier this year.
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Link: Saudi Arabia: Mobily announces launch of Mobile Roaming Alliance

Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) has announced the launch of the “Mobile Roaming Alliance” (MRA) in conjunction with its mother company, Etisalat in the UAE, and its sister company Etisalat Misr in Egypt. The MRA provides Mobily customers, both prepaid and postpaid, with high value roaming rates that offer savings of up to 53 percent, as well as a simple, affordable and transparent rate whenever they roam in the UAE and Egypt, taking away the complexity of calculating complex roaming charges. Likewise, Etisalat and Etisalat Misr customers traveling into the Kingdom from the UAE and Egypt will enjoy the same privileges and affordable flat rate. The MRA itself is part of a strategic attempt by Mobily to leverage synergies across its group in order to deliver a unique value proposition to its extended customer base and enhance the appeal of mobile services to roaming customers. “Etisalat’s global reach across the 16 markets we operate in gives us a unique opportunity to leverage our group synergies for the benefit of our customers. This launch is just the first phase of our roaming alliance and we would like to extend this eventually to all our customers across the various markets we operate in,” said Mohammad Hassan Omran, chairman of Etisalat in the UAE. “This is part of our commitment to our customers to deliver outstanding customer value from our perspective as a truly global brand considering our growing reach and expansion across international markets,” he added.
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Link: Pakistan: Telecom sector facing brunt of increased tax

The increase in federal excise duty on telecommunication services from 15 percent to 21 percent has adversely impacted the usage of mobile phone and has resulted in reduction in service usage by 8 percent to 9 percent within few weeks of the current fiscal year. Unfair taxation would lead to burdening the new potential rural consumers who do not have access to mobile phone facility hampering the development of the rural economy. The growth in the telecommunication sector during last 4 years was recorded 100 percent due to its expanding consumer base. However, the burden of taxes and duties is going to reduce the usage by the consumers resulting in fewer revenues for the government and reduced operations by the companies. Telecommunication experts expressed these views during a interacting session with print and electronic media representatives organised by a local mobile phone company at Phuket, Thailand during July 8 to July 11, 2008. Increase in taxes and duties on telecommunication services in the budget for the current fiscal year 2008-09 would have negative impact in attracting fresh foreign direct investment in telecommunication sector and overall economic growth of the economy, they said. At present some 6 mobile phone companies are providing services out of which 4 are facing losses under the head of operations. At this point of time sudden increase in taxes and duties on this potential sector will is not a welcome step.
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Link: Middle East and Africa mobile user base to grow 10.5% annually till 2013

Mobile phone user base in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 10.5 per cent between 2008 and 2013 and operator-billed service revenues across the region are expected to rise to more than $107 billion (Dh392.69 billion) in 2013, a research report said. The report found that growth would be driven by mobile data services, fuelled by the greater availability and wider variety of media-rich content coupled with lower browsing costs. However, it said that regional operator-billed voice revenues were likely to peak in 2011 and will subsequently fall away due to increasingly competitive pricing in that sector. “The downward trend in regional average revenue per user (ARPU) will continue as adoption increases among lower-usage customers. We expect the decline in voice ARPU to be partially offset by an increase in data revenues, both among 2.5G and 3G customers,” said Dr Windsor Holden, principal analyst with Juniper Research and the report’s author. He said the regional mobile phone market is expected to reach 485.9 million by end of this year, representing a year-on-year growth of 24.1 per cent from 391.6 million in 2007. The report said mobile data services are expected to contribute 24 per cent of operator-billed service revenues in 2013, against just nine per cent in 2008. Saudi Arabia is expected to provide the largest share of cumulative regional revenues over the forecast period, followed by Nigeria. Dr Holden said the region was likely to witness a surge in the growth of mobile financial services, with a raft of operator-led payment initiatives such as M-Pesa and mobile banking providers such as Wizzit having already gained substantial user bases. He said within MEA, mobile advertising is still in its infancy. The market is dominated by SMS-based campaigns, which in 2007 accounted for about 82 per cent of regional adspend of just $29 million. While adspend is expected to increase significantly in 2008, this is still very much attributable to continued utilisation of SMS-based campaigns, and reflects the realisation that many handsets in the region are entry-level; to attain maximum reach, campaigns are targeted accordingly, using a technology that most consumers can access. “Indeed, SMS will remain the most popular campaign tool in the region throughout the forecast period, although by 2013 its share of adspend will have declined to 36 per cent as other delivery channels - most notably on-portal advertising gain in popularity. Mobile content service revenues in the MEA are overwhelmingly dominated by ringtones, logos, and downloadable games. “Saudi Arabia’s 3G base of 3.1 million in 2007 was the 10th-highest in the world. The UAE, Saudi Arabia and South Africa accounted for nearly 94 per cent of the all 3G subscribers in the region in 2007, with the result that 3G penetration of all regional handsets stood at 2.7 per cent. UAE’s penetration rates will exceed 50 per cent by 2010 and in Saudi Arabia by 2011,” report said.

Link: Mobile marketing technology launched in the UAE

The UAE will be the first country in the Middle East to witness the launch of mobile barcode vouchers, with the release of MoSecure’s Mobile Access Pack (MAP). The MAP aims to enhance interaction between brands and consumers, by allowing advertisers to push barcoded vouchers and tickets to mobile consumers via SMS. With the global mobile advertising spend expected to hit $11.35 billion by 2011, according to Informa Telecoms and Media, advertisers are increasingly realizing the power of the humble SMS and other mobile-related marketing alternatives. “The marketing and communication opportunities which the MoSecure Code opens up are mind-boggling. Every industry vertical will have to adapt to mobile in some way - the omen is very clear for brands, you either incorporate wireless media as part of your marketing campaigns or be left out” said Rohan F. Britto, founder & digital media evangelist at Ajman-based MoSecure. The technology has already had a soft launch in the region with one international brand using MAP for a customer offer. Advertisers are able to track the effectiveness of each campaign, with exact details of customers that respond to the ads being logged onto the system. “Fairly large multinational companies have already shown interest in our technology with around eight to nine brands quite keen. In fact, we’ve just completed a presentation with the Department of Tourism for the Government of India.” said Satyan Nair, director of new media at MoSecure. MAP has been developed in partnership with different international companies. One of the companies, Spain’s Daem Interactive, has helped in the development of an image recognition application for MoSecure called Smart Posters. Using phone cameras with the application installed, a customer can capture the image of a poster that has aroused their curiosity. The advertiser who designed the poster can then deliver an instant response to the customer with details about the special promotion or offer. By giving customers specially branded mobile vouchers, tickets and other mobile-centric offers, MoSecure will make it easy for advertisers in the region to tap into a market that’s increasingly become focused on instant gratification.

Link: Malaysia: Get SMS alert on renewing road tax

If you are among those who find it difficult to remember when to renew your road tax, you will soon be able to receive a reminder to do so via an SMS alert. This follows a collaboration between the Road Transport Department (JPJ) and the Malaysian Administrative, Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu) to provide an “instant” road tax expiry notice to motorists. To receive the SMS alert, motorists only have to register with the government portal e-Kl. JPJ deputy director general Datuk Solah Mat Hassan said the full details of the service would be revealed on July 31.

Link: Turkey: Turkcell Brings Windows Live Messenger to Mobile Users

NeuStar, Inc. today announced that it has partnered with Turkcell, the third largest mobile network operator in Europe, to launch the Windows Live Messenger mobile instant messaging service to Turkcell’s 35.1 million mobile subscribers. A longtime NeuStar customer, Turkcell is now using NeuStar’s powerful Mobile Messaging Gateway solution to bring Windows Live Messenger to its subscribers. Turkcell has been and will continue to offer its own-community mobile IM service (Turkcell Messenger), which is powered by NeuStar’s Instant Messaging Service Centre (IMSC). With a simple login function and instant access to their buddy lists and presence information, Turkcell subscribers will be able to experience all the functionality of Windows Live Messenger on their mobile phones. The same familiar experience is available whether they are sitting at a PC or using their mobiles. Burak Ertas, head of the Consumer Services Division at Turkcell, said: “At Turkcell, we like to bring the widest choice of services to our subscribers. Our business relationship with NeuStar has enabled us to offer two complementary mobile IM services. NeuStar built a close working relationship with our team from day one, and that has helped to shape our service. We are delighted to have partnered with NeuStar again to launch Windows Live Messenger, which gives our users further mobile IM choices.” Allen Scott, general manager of NeuStar NGM, added: “Turkcell’s customers have roundly embraced the new opportunities for communication that IM brings to the mobile phone. Having worked on the original Turkcell Messenger service, NeuStar is pleased to have been responsible for the deployment of Windows Live Messenger, giving Turkcell’s subscribers further choice. As Turkcell strengthens its position as Turkey’s leading mobile communications provider and continues to innovate in this field, we have no doubts that mobile IM will prove to be increasingly important for them.”

Link: Saudi Arabia: STC launches new service

AlJawal announced the launch of its new “AlJawal Control” service to control incoming audio, video, sms, and mms communications. This new service is available to post-paid, Sawa, and Lana customers only, providing full control of all incoming calls and allowing calls to come through or blocking them during specific timings or all the time. The customer pre-identifies these numbers using the accept/block menu, according to a press release from Saudi Telecom Co. (STC). AlJawal Control “Call Screening Service” to reinforce customer privacy, block unwanted phone calls and allow AlJawal customers to avoid wrong numbers and calls that are made at inappropriate times.

Link: Oman to sell 25% stake in Omantel

The Omani Government has just announced that it intends to sell 25 per cent of shares in Oman Telecommunications Company, (Omantel) in a bid to help strengthen its market position both in the Sultanate and abroad. The stake in the state-controlled telco is valued at $1.15 billion at current market prices. The government, which currently owns 70 per cent, could give an investor economic and voting rights in the firm, said the Ministry of Finance. “The further privatisation of Omantel is another example of the Government’s commitment to liberalising the economy and seeking to support the creation of world class Omani companies,” said Darwish Bin Ismaeel Bin Ali Al Balushi, Secretary General of Ministry of Finance. “The Omani telecom market still has excellent growth potential and Oman offers an attractive economic environment which we are certain will appeal to bidders.” Those interested in holding a stake in Oman’s incumbent telco include the region’s two largest mobile phone operators by market value, Emirates Telecommunications (Etisalat) and Saudi Telecom. “It is difficult to play solo in this era of globalisation,” said Amer Awadh al-Rawas, managing director of Omantel’s mobile phone division, Oman Mobile. “A strategic partner will increase our business … penetration level is low, so there is lots of scope,” he said. According to ministry estimates, Oman had a mobile phone penetration of 96 per cent last year, the lowest in the Gulf. Oman Mobile, a subsidiary of Omantel has 60 per cent market share of total mobile communications subscribers in the Arab country and an ARPU of $40. The Ministry of Finance said they will consider any telecom firms that operate in numerous countries, have at least five million customers and intend on holding on to the shares for a minimum of five years. The Government expects the sale to be finalised by year-end.

Link: Nigeria: Etisalat Hosts Distributors for Better Service

The upcoming telecommunication network provider in Nigeria, Etisalat, recently host its distribution partner in order to make them familiar with its products and services before its commercial launch into the market. At the gathering, which is its first public partnership, the innovative products and services of the company and its aim of satisfying customers was unveiled to the distributors. Mr. Wael Ammar, Vice President (marketing) of Etisalat, said the essence of the meeting was to make known its focus and strategies of satisfying the customers. There was also an interactive session where distributors asked questions and answers were provided to them.