Batelco's executives "Back to the Floor"

Mr. Kaliaropoulos noted that one of the Company's fundamental priorities was to continually offer an enhanced customer experience in order for Batelco to retain an advantage in the increasingly competitive environment.

"Success is all about customer service and account management," he explained, "and we are committed to ongoing training & development to ensure every Batelco staff member has the necessary tools to provide top quality services for customers."

"Since the beginning of 2006, 23,000 hours of training & development have been clocked up by 521 staff members."

"It is our aim to continue with this programme to make sure all staff have the opportunity to take part in further training," he added.

Batelco is also committed to ongoing investment in Bahrain's telecommunications network to ensure all residents and businesses have access to world class communication facilities.

"Over the past 20 years, Batelco has contributed over US$1.3 billion to the network infrastructure in Bahrain," said Mr. Kaliaropoulos.

The Chief Executive also announced that in the near future, customers might be surprised to be served by him or one of Batelco's executive team when they visit a Batelco Shop.

"Everyone on the executive team, including myself will undergo training in the near future and will then spend some time every month behind a shop counter in different outlets, looking after the needs of our customers."

"This will provide us with valuable knowledge in customer experience and processes and we are all really looking forward to dealing with customers directly," he said.

Mr. Kaliaropoulos concluded by thanking the attendees for their continuing efforts which resulted in a sound performance for the first quarter of 2006.

A series of meetings were held throughout the day in which department heads made brief presentations highlighting their main initiatives for the remainder of 2006. Each meeting was followed by a question and answer session.

The management and staff Employee Communication Forums took place at Batelco Staff Centre in Hamala. All Batelco employees were requested to attend and turnout was extremely high.