2007
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Dubai to host CIO summit
IDC, a market intelligence firm based in the US, will host a summit for CIOs in the Middle East next year. The event, which will take place 16-17 March at the Grand Hyatt in Dubai, will bring together CIOs, technology gurus and business strategists, the firm said. The summit will include sessions on IT governance, unified communications strategy and customer outsourcing directions.
Nawras MMS coverage
Nawras mobile customers in Oman can now send and receive MMS messages via 29 telco operators in 21 countries, including several in the GCC such as du, Etisalat, Mobily, Qatar Telecom and Wataniya, reported the Oman Daily Observer. Nawras is charging 150 baiza per MMS up to 200 kb in size.
Omantel $36m bonus
The decision to reduce the amount of royalties that telco firms pay to Oman's government should earn the Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) an extra $36.4m in profit this year, reported Reuters. Nawras, the Qatar Telecom subsidiary which offers a mobile service in the sultanate, is set to accrue an additional $5.2m. Fixed line royalties have been cut from 10% to 7% and mobile royalties from 12% to 7%.
Mobily offers video mail
Mobily has launched a video mail service in Saudi Arabia, which can be activated via SMS, over the Internet or by phone. The service, which will cost a set, unspecified monthly fee, allows for five welcome messages to be recorded, while up to 25 video messages can be stored at any one time. Users of the service need to possess a 3.5G enabled handset.
Fatwas available online
The Presidency for Scientific Research and Religious Edicts (Dar Al Ifta), which is based in Riyadh and issues fatwas, has set up a website where visitors can gain quick access its various rulings, reported Arab News. Users of the site, which is only available in Arabic, will also be able to put questions on a range of topics to Islamic scholars. The site can be found at www.alifta.com
Batelco Call Cards promotion
Batelco is offering users of 123 Call Cards a tariff reduction of up to 72% on international direct dial calls, using land lines or mobiles, to 30 locations around the world including India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Egypt, Lebanon, the US, Canada and the UK. The offer starts today, October 7, and continues until October 20.
Acer eyes $700m in EMEA
IT vendor Acer is expecting to achieve more than $700m in revenue this year from the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, reported Gulf News. The firm earned about $180m in Q2 but Emanuele Accolla, the VP of Acer EMEA, said sales were lower than expected due to political instability in Turkey. The firm is targeting 20% growth in the Gulf region this year.
Xpress to Smartbuy
Jordanian mobile operator Xpress has set up an in-store sales 'booth' at the Smartbuy electronics megastore located at the Cozmo superstore, in the 7th circle area of Amman. Xpress will offer its range of products at the store including its push to talk service as well as its location based services.
Etisalat pre-paid loan offer
Etisalat is providing its Wasel and Ahlan pre-paid mobile customers with Dhs3 worth of talk time, or the equivalent in SMS or MMS once their phones have run out of credit. The sum will be recovered the next time the subscriber recharges the credit on their phone. Dhs3 offers 12.5 minutes of talk time when making an off-peak local call.
RAKTrade.com launched
Online marketplace Tejari has jointly launched RAKTrade.com with the Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone. RAKTrade.com, a community based eBusiness website, will enable around 3,500 companies from more than 100 countries which are based at the free zone to have an online presence through which they can market their goods and services. Tejari's network now contains more than 100,000 firms across 14 countries.
Oman to sell stake in Omantel
Oman plans to sell a stake in its Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) to an investor to make the company more competitive globally, reported Gulf Daily News. Economy Minister Ahmad bin Abdul-Nabi Mekki said the country has also agreed to cut the royalties Omantel pays to the government for fixed-lined services to 7% from 10%, and for mobile phone services to 7% from 12%. The government owns 70% of the company.
New roaming service in Saudi
Al Jawal has launched a new service in Saudi Arabia that enables visitors with cell phones from any service provider in the world to obtain a local prepaid mobile number once entering the Al Jawal network range without having to buy a new chip. The Local Roaming Number service also allows visitors to use their own numbers as well as their new local number simultaneously using the same mobile chip.
Nokia named 5th best global brand
Nokia, which has a strong presence in the Middle East, has been named the 5th Best Global Brand in this year's Interbrand rankings. The firm jumped up one place from last year's study, which annually displays the top 100 brands in the world based on independent measurements that assess the brand's total value. Nokia knocked computer hardware giant Intel from their 2006 number five position, beating automotive company Toyota to fifth place.
UAE keeps telecom sector closed
The UAE government has announced that it will not open up the country's telecommunications sector to foreign companies in the near future, reported Gulf News. The UAE's Minister of Government Sector Development Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri said the current number of companies is adequate, and tariffs will become competitive because etisalat no longer has a monopoly on phone and internet services.
Mobinil to hit 15m subscribers
Egyptian telco outfit Mobinil could have 15m mobile subscribers by the end of the year according to its CEO Alex Shalaby and cited by Reuters. The firm's capital expenditure is also likely to exceed $700m in 2007 as it looks to fight off competition. Mobinil's customer base rose by 65% in H1 but Shalaby warned this rate of growth would slow next year as the market becomes more crowded.
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