MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain) participates in Bahrain's third FutureIT Conference & Exhibition

Hundreds of delegates from the local and regional IT & Business community attended the opening ceremony patronised by H.E. Dr. Hassan Fakhroo, Minister of Industry and Commerce in Bahrain.

Presenting the keynote speech at the opening ceremony, Dr. Marwan Alahmadi, MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain)'s Chief Operations Officer stated: 'We are delighted to take part in this landmark event for the second consecutive year. Our sponsorship of FutureIT 2005 Conference & Exhibition comes as part of our commitment in supporting the development of Bahrain's future. Such local event with regional and global recognition helps strengthening the kingdom's position as a leading player in technology and telecommunications.'

In a brief update about the MTC Group, Dr. Alahmadi said: 'MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain) is one of the MTC Group of companies which is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange. Gross revenues in 2004 were at US$1.1 billion, with a net income of US$410 million. Under the leadership of Dr Saad Al Barrak, MTC's Managing Director and Vice-Chairman, the group has set a corporate vision which can simply be summarized as '3X3X3'. This ambitious vision of progressive growth is the driving force moving MTC from a single operator in Kuwait at the end of 2002 to a global player over three stages - regional, international, and global with each stage completed in three years. The acquisition of Celtel takes MTC beyond the borders of its region - the Middle East - into Africa and has firmly placed the company among its new peer group of international telecom operators. MTC now operates in 18 countries in the Middle East & Africa providing its services to approximately 10 million subscribers.'

Mr. Khalid Muhtadi, MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain)'s Chief Operating Officer - IT, Customer Care and Billing will be delivering a presentation on Mobile Business Solutions. The presentation will take place on May 15th at 11 a.m. as part of the Day 2 conference 'e-Enterprise: Emerging Technologies'.

At its stand in the Exhibition area, MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain) will be also demonstrating and showcasing its latest portfolio of the cutting-edge 3G communication services and products. Representative from the company will be available to run live demonstrations and answer visitors' inquiries and questions. MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain) team will also be introducing businesses to the company's main range of product offerings for corporate customers, such as the 3G Vodafone Mobile connect card, eeZee data SIM card and much more. The company will also introduce its new Data Tariff plan for Internet and WAP.

FutureIT 2005 will witness the launch of the corporate edition of the push email services launched earlier this year for the residential and individual customers. This new service will allow MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain)'s corporate customers to send and receive their e-mails from their mobile handset devices. MTC Vodafone Duality brings all the key components that customers are familiar with when using Microsoft Outlook™ and Lotus Notes™ at their desktops and provides access to them, over the air, from their mobile handsets. This new solution pushes new e-mails automatically to mobile devices and No user interaction is required. Visitors of the exhibition will have the chance to benefit from special offers on bundles available exclusively at the MTC-Vodafone Stand.

MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain) team will also emphasize on the services available exclusively for its customers in Bahrain such as LiveTV to mobile, video streaming and much more of the World of WoW infotainment services.

The company now employs more than 290 staff members and under their commitment to Bahrainisation they are already over 80% level, 7% over their original declared threshold and two years ahead of the agreement with the Bahrain TRA.