Thuraya bolsters commercial presence in Sudan

Canar Telecommunications Co. Ltd. is a telecom joint venture between Etisalat and Sudanese Capital which began commercial operation in January 2006.

Canar will become Thuraya's new service provider in Sudan and will primarily target the country's expanding corporate sector.

"We are happy to choose Canar, as a leading telecom operator, to be our new service provider in Sudan. This will help us boost our already strong commercial presence and serve wider business sectors in the country," said Thuraya CEO Yousuf Al Sayed.

Mr. Al Sayed pointed out that the new partnership is the latest in a series of steps being taken by Thuraya to further grow business in Africa, which represents a sizable part of its core markets.

On his part, Canar CEO Ali bin Jarsh said, "We would like to express our pleasure for partnering with Thuraya to become their service provider in Sudan."

"Canar will utilise its resources and large network of distributors to provide unique sales and customer-oriented services to the Sudanese community," he added.

Africa's largest country, Sudan has a population of 42 million. The demand for telecom services in Sudan has grown rapidly in the past few years because of a booming economy. The telecom sector is the second fastest growing in the country after the energy industry.

Sudan also hosts a large number of peacekeepers and NGOs many of whom are based in areas still not fully connected by telecom networks.