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Saturday, November 21 - 2009

Zain Bahrain promises seamless transition to LTE

Work has begun on Zain Bahrain's ambitious network upgrade to the region's first Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology being delivered by Nokia Siemens Networks. This upgrade will enable Zain Bahrain customers to enjoy faster data downloads and enhanced customer experience, thanks to its transition to an all-IP, flat network through the introduction of Internet High Speed Packet Access (I-HSPA) as a first stage, and then the Middle East Region's first Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology.

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  • Zain Bahrain promises seamless transition to LTE.
    Zain Bahrain promises seamless transition to LTE.
The new technology is expected to vastly boost Zain's state-of-the-art services through improved voice, data and multimedia services.

Zain Bahrain customers will find a dramatic improvement in accessing the internet with speeds of up to 14 Mbps in the first stage with I-HSPA, and then even higher speeds in the second stage with LTE. There will also be a dramatic improvement in coverage throughout the Kingdom, where ongoing infrastructure development necessitates parallel development of the mobile network. Zain customers will continue to experience the best quality service wherever they are.

Zain Bahrain Network Director Esam Zainal said the project was progressing well and added that although all efforts were being made to keep service interruptions to the minimum, customers may sometimes experience minor service degradation or occasional dropped calls while the work is carried out.

"We value the top-class customer experience that Zain Bahrain customers always enjoy and will naturally do our best to ensure that the move to the new technology is seamless. However, there will inevitably be some small percentage of dropped calls and service interruptions. We request customers to report these to us so we may track them and correct them,"

Zainal said.

"The move to LTE technology will enable Zain Bahrain to be the first mobile operator in the Middle East to offer this totally new experience in mobile broadband services," he noted.
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Notes and media contacts

About Zain:
Zain is a leading telecommunications operator across the Middle East and Africa providing mobile voice and data services to 69.5 million active customers as at 30 June 2009. In terms of country footprint, Zain is the 3rd largest mobile operator in the world with a commercial presence in 24 countries.

Zain operates in the following countries: Bahrain, Burkina Faso, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Palestine (currently known as Paltel Group), Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. In Lebanon, the company manages 'mtc-touch' on behalf of the government. In Morocco, Zain owns 31% of Wana Telecom through a joint venture.

Zain offers innovative services in its markets such as 'One Network', the world's first borderless mobile telecommunications network enabling customers when abroad to receive calls and sms without charge and to make voice and data calls at local rates throughout 20 countries in Africa and the Middle East. This service allows a customer to top up airtime in one's home country or from more than 1,000,000 outlets within Zain's One Network footprint.

Zain Bahrain entered the Kingdom's telecoms market in 2003 as the second mobile service entrant. Riding on the promise of innovative business practices and cutting-edge technology, Zain Bahrain has delivered on these promises by putting Bahrain on the global telecommunications map with a string of firsts - the first country with nation-wide 3G, then 3.5G and now, WiMAX coverage. Today, Zain Bahrain has developed into a successful fixed wireless service operator offering full-spectrum corporate telecoms solutions, voice and data services to customers in the Kingdom.

The company is committed to nurturing the finest Bahraini talent and has an energetic and inspired majority-Bahraini workforce. It's strong CSR initiatives have made Zain Bahrain an active partner in Bahrain's development and progress.

The Zain brand is wholly owned by Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC, which is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange. Zain is listed in the Financial Times' Global 500 Index which ranks the world's largest companies based on market capitalization. Zain aims to become one of the top ten mobile operators in the world by end of the year 2011.

Contact:
Hind Jameel Abdulsalam
Corporate Communications Coordinator
Zain
Tel: +973 36031358
Fax: +973 36031994
Alafoo Building
Road 2811, Block 428
Seef District
PO Box 266, Bahrain

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