MyAdhan Blog

Link: Qatar: Schools employ devices to detect cellphones

Several independent schools in Doha have introduced detection devices to intercept students bringing mobile phones to school. As many as 140 mobile phones were detected on the first day in one particular school, Al Arab daily reported. The use of mobile phones in schools was banned in compliance with the ‘Policy of Discipline and Moral Behaviour’ issued by the Heir Apparent and Chairman of the Supreme Education Council, H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, in January. “The school management has procured three devices in order to carry out detection of handsets among students without having to resort to physical searches,” said Darae Al Dossari, Principal of Al Ahnaf bin Qais Junior Independent School. “Class supervisors search for mobile phones at the beginning of each school day and surprise inspections are conducted during the day,” he added. “Mobile phones are nothing but a disturbance to the class. A student with a cellphone thinks about nothing but receiving a call,” said Ammanullah Khan, Vice Principal of the Pakistan Education Centre. “It does not add anything to the education system. Use of mobiles phones has been strictly banned in our school. Not only students, but teachers as well cannot use mobiles except in staff rooms,” added Khan. The school administration has informed parents through an official circular. The class teacher has the right to search the desks of students for mobile phones. If a handset is seized, it is confiscated by the administration and handed over to the parents with a warning. If the violation is repeated, the handset is kept in school custody till the end of academic year. Experts had called for a ban on cellular phones inside classrooms to help students concentrate on their studies and avoid potential adverse health effects. Besides the ban on cellphones, the new policy also bans long hair among males, introduces a compulsory one month of military service for all students and a dress code of traditional clothes for males at all academic levels. All students, male and female, are also required to complete 25 hours of community service.

Link: 15.5% of Bahrain’s cellular users have two mobile lines

Another Link: 15.5% of Bahrain’s cellular users have two mobile lines

A new Arab Advisors’ major survey of Bahrain’s cellular users provides insightful analysis into Bahrain’s cellular market. The survey revealed that multiple line use (two lines or more) stood at 15.7% of total cellular users. Respondents cited separating business use from personal use as the main reason behind multiple line use. A new major survey of Bahrain’s cellular users was concluded by the Arab Advisors Group on September 22, 2008. The survey report, Bahrain Cellular Users Survey 2008- which has 239 detailed exhibits and 151 pages - provides the results of a major comprehensive survey of the cellular usage patterns and habits of the population in Bahrain. The survey fieldwork was conducted in August 2008. “This face to face survey revealed that 15.7% of cellular users own more than one mobile line; where 53.5% stated that the reason for owning more than one line is the need to separate their business lines from their personal lines.” Mr. Issa Goussous, Sr. Research Analyst of Arab Advisors Group noted. The survey further revealed that 56% of Bahrain’s cellular users reported being aware of 3G cellular services. Of those who are aware, 36% use 3G services. 75.7% of those who use 3G services stated that they use it for video calling. “38.9% of mobile users in Bahrain stated that they had changed mobile operators before. While 32.4% of cellular users stated that they would consider changing their mobile operators, users of Batelco and Zain reported high satisfaction levels with their service providers. 91.9% of Batelco’s subscribers (and 89.1% of Zain’s subscribers) were either satisfied or very satisfied with the operator’s services. It must be noted that the small difference between the two operators is negligible as it lies within the survey’s margin of error.” Ms. Danya Nusseir, Arab Advisors Research Analyst said. The survey involved face-to-face interviews with 550 respondents from different households in Al Manamah the capital, Al Janubiyah, Al Muharraq, Al Wusta and Al Shamaliyah, selected randomly in a manner proportionate to the estimated population size of these areas. Respondents were 15 years old and above, and were cellular service users. This survey provides deep insights into the telecom usage patterns in Bahrain. The random survey has a 99% confidence level with a less than 6% margin of error.

Link: Cairo: Unease over ‘religious’ content available to mobile phone users

A wave of Islamist thought sweeping Egypt has begun manifesting in advertisements in local newspapers and on state-owned radio stations. Liberals warn that a state of things where, for instance, downloads of the “best prayers” are chargeable will stoke sectarianism in a country where Muslim-Christian tensions are not uncommon. “Egyptian - both Muslims and Christians - are religious by nature. But the exploitation of gadgetry like mobile phones and MP3s augurs ill for this country,” said Hamdy Abbas, a liberal researcher. “The Christians too are being offered downloadable hymns and verses from the Bible. Each side is apparently at pains to assert its religious identity. This consecrates sectarianism,” he told Gulf News. The government recently banned the public display of religious symbols in private cars apparently in response to a spate of communal incidents. But the National Communication Regulatory Agency (NCRA) has no authority to vet content accessible through cellphones. “Our job is only to ensure service providers stick to a certain level of quality,” said Ali Al Sherbini, head of the National Communication Institute. “This over-emphasis on religious identity is due to the eagerness of people to escape economic and social woes,” said Suheir Sanad, a sociologist at the National Centre for Social and Criminal Research in Cairo.

Link: Omnnea wins contract with Iraqi Ministry of Telecommunication

Omnnea, the national wireless telecommunications company in Iraq, wins the contract with Ministry of Telecommunication. Omnnea uses the latest available version of CDMA, which is a third generation (3.5 G) wireless technology. Through this version, Omnnea offers excellent voice clarity and internet communication to users at home and work, and provides many different services which associated with modern technology. With Omnnea, the subscriber can pay only one cent per minute locally, and nine cents for more than 25 international countries. Omnnea has already been working in five main provinces in Iraq; those are Baghdad, Basra, Hilla, Najaf and Karbalaa. Besides, the company will launch its services in Diwanyai soon.

Link: Maroc Telecom shortlisted to buy 51% of Mali telecom

Follow Up Link: Maroc Telecom ventures into Mali

Morocco’s telecommunication company, Maroc Telecom, has been shortlisted to buy 51% of Mali’s state-owned Telecommunication Company, Sotelma, after a tight competition with 15 other world telecommunication companies. The shortlisted companies will submit tenders to the Mali government to buy Sotelma, informed sources in Rabat said. Other companies which have their eyes on buying Sotelma include MTN, Deutsch Telecom, Vodafone, Portugal Telecom, Saoudia Telecom and Orascom, the sources said. It added that the Maroc Telecom bid is “a very serious one” given its performance and experiences in Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Gabon where it had won calls for tenders for taking over those countries’ telecommunication companies. The privatization of Sotelma involves the transfer of 51% of the capital to a strategic partner, while 19% will be transferred to the general public and 10% is set aside for the company’s staff, leaving 20% for the state. Turnover of Sotelma at the end of last year was about 107 millions euros. It has a stock of around 90,000 fixed lines and 480,000 GSM subscribers.

Link: Kuwait telco Zain $4.5 billion cap hike 99% covered

Follow Up Link: Zain rallies after capital hike

Kuwait’s Mobile Telecom (Zain) said on Saturday it raised $4.49 billion in the Gulf’s biggest capital hike this year, selling almost all offered shares despite tough markets with a near 50 percent discount. The 1.2 billion dinars ($4.49 billion) capital hike was 99 percent covered, Kuwait’s biggest mobile operator said in a statement. Around 1.42 billion shares were offered to shareholders at 850 fils each, just above half of Thursday’s close of 1.660 dinars, raising the total to 4.28 billion shares. The share offer, Kuwait’s biggest ever, coincided with a sharp fall in the local stock market, which like other Gulf markets has been hit by a U.S. financial crisis. Zain said the subscription had gone better than expected considering the difficult market environment. The outcome had been anxiously anticipated by analysts since Zain is the biggest Kuwaiti stock with a market capitalisation of around $18.3 billion. Oversubscriptions are common in Kuwait as companies often offer shares at huge discounts to win shareholder loyalty but in Zain’s case the issue had been open only to existing shareholders for a fixed amount of shares. Zain, which operates in 22 countries, has said it wants to use the money to fund expansion in the Middle East and Africa.

Link: Kashmir’s mobile phone chroniclers

Minutes after 35-year-old Javed Amir Mir was shot in the head by security forces in Srinagar, capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, a young boy recorded his death on his mobile phone camera. Across the city, 25-year-old Imran Ahmed Wani’s death was also recorded on mobile phones by friends rushing him to hospital after he was shot during a demonstration. In fact, Mr Wani’s last days unspool effortlessly on pictures which can be seen on the mobiles of his friends - in one he is smiling at the camera, 10 days before his death; in another, life is slowly ebbing out of him as he lies, legs akimbo, in a ambulance racing to get him to the hospital. “We have all these pictures on our phones. His memories live and move with us,” says his friend and mass communications student, Sheikh Suhail, 24.

Interesting footage
As the mainly Muslim Kashmir valley erupted into protests last month after a row over transfer of land in the region snowballed into a movement for freedom from India, armies of mobile-phone toting youngsters began trawling the city to record the events. The images and recordings of those momentous events have been swapped between friends, or put up on popular video sharing sites. One of those, YouTube, spits out nearly 250 results when a search is done for “Srinagar protest” and many of these clips have been put up by youngsters from the valley. There are now mobile phone recordings being swapped around which have reached almost cult status. A pro-freedom procession, security forces thrashing children playing in a city park, a friend or a neighbour shot down during a protest, a funeral procession. In a way, the images and clips comprise an uneven chronicle of the troubled life and times in the valley by these “citizen journalists” of Kashmir. “This is a new trend in Kashmir. There are a lot of young people moving around the city with such mobile phone recordings,” says Amjad Mir of Sen TV, a local news and current affairs channel. In the restive Batamaloo area in Srinagar, a 29-year-old man, who owns a small mobile phone shop in the city, says he goes out every other day with his phone in search of “interesting footage”. “This is the first time ordinary people like us are coming out with our phones and shooting. This is the only way we can show to the world what is happening here,” says the young man, who prefers to be unnamed.

History in making
During a recent curfew in the valley, he recorded people in his neighbourhood collecting several thousand bottles of drinking water to supply a local hospital which had run out. The Batamaloo man shows me some of his other clips on the phone - crowds gathering for a demonstration, tyres burning on the streets, troops chasing crowds. A friend, he says, has clips of a man shot down by troops on his cheap Chinese mobile phone. His favourite is a nine-minute recording of a protest demonstration that he shot on his favourite Nokia phone from a flyover overlooking the road. “I have never seen so many people in my life as that day. It was a big, peaceful demonstration. And I just kept recording,” he says. Chasing events on mobile phones have now become an obsessive hobby with these young men - they charge their phones regularly every night and hit the road next morning looking for some action. A young journalist says the mobile phone chroniclers are usually internet-savvy students, who shoot clips and upload them on the internet. “I want to preserve these memories. They are history in the making,” he says. His favourite clip: local boys demolishing an 18-year-old bunker of Indian troops in his neighbourhood during the recent agitation. The Kashmir conflict now seems to have become fully digitalised.

Link: Kuwait telcom firm aims to grab 10pc share

Kuwait’s third telecoms operator VIVA, an affiliate of Saudi Telecom Co, aims to attract 300,000 subscribers in its first year of operation, its chief executive said yesterday. Kuwait’s third telecoms operator VIVA, an affiliate of Saudi Telecom Co, aims to attract 300,000 subscribers in its first year of operation, its chief executive said yesterday. Kuwait, a country of more than 3 million people with mobile phone penetration of more 90 percent, sold a 26 percent stake in the state-created firm to Saudi Telecom for 248.7m dinars ($930.4m) in November. The new company, which launched its brand name VIVA this week, will compete with Mobile Telecommunications Co (Zain) and National Mobile Telecommunications Co (Wataniya), a unit of Qatar Telecommunications Co when it launches operations by the end of the year. “We target a market share of 10 percent, that means … around 300,000 subscribers for the first year,” Najeeb Alawadhi said. Zain said earlier this week it had 1.75 million subscribers while Wataniya had 1.27 million subscribers at the end of June. Alawadhi declined to give a medium-term forecast for subscribers, market share or profits. He said VIVA saw an opportunity despite the high mobile penetration. “The market can still absorb more. In the United Arab Emirates the penetration is more than 100 percent,” Alawadhi said. Like other Gulf Arab oil exporters, Kuwait is attracting a growing number of guest workers as regional economies boom on windfall oil revenues. In November, Saudi Telecom Chief Executive Saud Al Duweish said the new operator would have a market share of 30 percent in 10 years, on which Alawadhi declined to comment. Alawadhi said the company, which complies with Islamic law banning the receipt of interest, saw no need to borrow or conduct a capital increase for the time being since its “significant” investments were fully funded by Saudi Telecom. “In the future, we will review all our options,” he said. VIVA was created by the government of Kuwait in response to a parliamentary call, in 2006, for another telecoms operator to be set up to improve services, which industry analysts said were poorer and more expensive than in other Gulf states. Kuwait is selling a 50 percent stake in the company for $50m, subscription for which ended yesterday. The offer, which is expected to be well oversubscribed, was open only for Kuwaitis, a way for the government to share record oil revenues with citizens. The government will retain 24 percent in the new company which could be listed after 2009 pending a board decision, according to Alawadhi. Kuwait, a country of more than 3 million people with mobile phone penetration of more 90 percent, sold a 26 percent stake in the state-created firm to Saudi Telecom for 248.7m dinars ($930.4m) in November. The new company, which launched its brand name VIVA this week, will compete with Mobile Telecommunications Co (Zain) and National Mobile Telecommunications Co (Wataniya), a unit of Qatar Telecommunications Co when it launches operations by the end of the year. “We target a market share of 10 percent, that means … around 300,000 subscribers for the first year,” Najeeb Alawadhi said. Zain said earlier this week it had 1.75 million subscribers while Wataniya had 1.27 million subscribers at the end of June. Alawadhi declined to give a medium-term forecast for subscribers, market share or profits. He said VIVA saw an opportunity despite the high mobile penetration. “The market can still absorb more. In the United Arab Emirates the penetration is more than 100 percent,” Alawadhi said. Like other Gulf Arab oil exporters, Kuwait is attracting a growing number of guest workers as regional economies boom on windfall oil revenues. In November, Saudi Telecom Chief Executive Saud Al Duweish said the new operator would have a market share of 30 percent in 10 years, on which Alawadhi declined to comment. Alawadhi said the company, which complies with Islamic law banning the receipt of interest, saw no need to borrow or conduct a capital increase for the time being since its “significant” investments were fully funded by Saudi Telecom. “In the future, we will review all our options,” he said. VIVA was created by the government of Kuwait in response to a parliamentary call, in 2006, for another telecoms operator to be set up to improve services, which industry analysts said were poorer and more expensive than in other Gulf states. Kuwait is selling a 50 percent stake in the company for $50m, subscription for which ended yesterday. The offer, which is expected to be well oversubscribed, was open only for Kuwaitis, a way for the government to share record oil revenues with citizens. The government will retain 24 percent in the new company which could be listed after 2009 pending a board decision, according to Alawadhi.

Link: Bahrain eyes global telco for 3rd mobile licence

Bahrain has set a Nov. 13 deadline for companies bidding for its third mobile licence and is looking for an experienced global operator, the island state’s telecoms watchdog said on Tuesday. The kingdom’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) said Nov. 13 would be the final deadline to receive bids. “TRA expects the winning bidder to be an experienced international player capable of offering innovative and affordable mobile services, to strengthen competition in Bahrain and deliver tangible socio-economic benefits to the Kingdom,” Alan Horne, TRA’s general director, said in a statement. Rob Middlehurst, TRA’s director of market and competition said the auction will be a multi-stage process with a final financial round for suitably qualified bidders. At least six firms have expressed interest in becoming the third mobile network operator in Bahrain, an island of about 1.05 million people and the smallest Gulf Arab economy. The country has been on a drive to boost competition and bring down prices. The new mobile operator would compete with Bahrain Telecommunications Co BTEL.BH and Zain, a unit of Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Co. The TRA said the six firms which had expressed interest by May were a mixture of local and international companies.

Link: UAE: Etisalat partners MBC to launch Internet TV

Another Link: Companies combine to offer Internet TV

Etisalat announced the launch of Internet TV in association with MBC to provide television content over the Internet. The company tied up with MBC to enable online viewing of Top 9 programmes being aired by MBC during Ramadan through the satellite and mobile TV. MBC began using the Etisalat ‘Internet TV’ on www.mbc.net portal. A first such initiative in the region, the Internet TV will change the way broadcasters showcase content and customers view content. Internet TV will enable hundreds of millions of MBC viewers around the world to view their favourite programmes online, in case they missed them when they were aired or simply want to watch them again. The customers can select the videos from the website - www.mbc.net/ramadan - and watch the programme online, at no charge. Commenting on the launch, Eisa Al Haddad, Chief Marketing Officer, Etisalat said, “Etisalat has always tried to leverage technology and provide a unique experience and unlimited reach to its customers. We believe that Internet TV will not only create a paradigm shift in the way broadcasters showcase content and customers view content, it will also create a new customer segments of the future - the online customer, the mobile customer and the interactive customer. “I do foresee new business avenues opening up for broadcasters and content providers to create unique content catering to these diverse customer segments and providing them the best of what they require.” The Internet TV solution, also known as the ‘Over-The-Top’ video distribution, gives broadcasters and content owners the ability to upload their videos onto the Etisalat network, manage their content and ensure effective content delivery through mobile phones, PC or notebook, television, and even kiosks.