KUWAIT, 9 March 2004 — Atheer Telecommunications, appointed by Iraq’s Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) as the GSM telecom service provider for the southern region of Iraq, announced that the service had gone live and was already providing essential communications for key individuals and businesses in southern Iraq.
Speaking for Atheer Telecommunications, Dr. Saad Al-Barrak, director general of MTC, the managing operator of Atheer, said: “I am delighted that we are now able to provide the people of Iraq with access to the outside world. Through MTC’s regional presence we can offer the Iraqi people a full service that makes them totally accessible with other Arab nations and closer to home with their friends and families.
“Until this month, only a tiny percentage of households in Iraq, let alone the southern region, had access to telephony as a whole,” said Dr. Saad. “I see today as the start of excellent connected communications in Iraq and the opportunity through good networking and communications to help make Iraq work as a truly dynamic, economically strong country that can contribute freely to the Arab economy as a whole. Our mission is to provide the local community with a base from which they can develop new business relations and kick start the growth of local employment opportunities, all based around our international communications channels — covering both prepaid and postpaid needs — that encompasses the latest in mobile telecommunications technology.”
Atheer’s network coverage extends from Iraq’s southern borders with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia up to the border of the central region and includes the cities of Basra, Az Zubyr, Umm Qasr, Safwan, Al-Nassiriyah, Al-Amarah, Al-Qurnah, Majar Al-Kabir and Samawah. A strong network of authorized distributors and retailers has been put together to support the distribution of eeZee, Atheer’s prepaid service.
The Atheer vision is one of fast and optimum deployment of a fully independent GSM network with capacity for up to 300,000 customers (target penetration of 5.7 percent) by 2005. A speedy roll out of coverage using state-of-the-art solutions has enabled the deployment of high-quality voice and other value-added services with Atheer already providing service to approximately 40,000 customers.
Atheer’s investment is estimated at a little over $120 million across the 24-month license. Through deployment of, and subcontracting to, local businesses and the local work force, in coordination with local industry and the Iraq Telecommunications and Post Company (ITPC), Atheer believes it will support the stimulation of engineering, sales and merchandising sectors. The sale of handsets, eeZee scratch cards and accessories is being managed through outsourcing to qualified Iraqi distribution companies.
Today, Atheer is employing some 55 Iraqis who are predominantly technical personnel from two exchanges at Al-Ashaar and Al-Andalus. Training and personal development sits at the forefront of Atheer’s recruitment and HR policies. Starting with the aim of recruiting a 100 percent Iraqi work force, Atheer has pledged to provide training for all employees in specialized positions; recruit Iraqi personnel to executive and line management positions; and encourage knowledge exchange through training in other parts of the MTC Group such as MTC-Vodafone in Kuwait and Bahrain, and Jordan’s Fastlink. Overall the aim is to furnish training and support for Iraqis who will be working for their own Iraqi customer base and the good of their own country.
Atheer’s eeZee prepaid and postpaid tariffs have been designed to accommodate the full spectrum of the Iraqi business and social society. To stimulate a vibrant mobile-based market and economy Atheer’s pricing is as low as possible to ensure maximum access for the people of southern Iraq. All transactions will be undertaken in US dollars with low monthly rentals. Both peak and off peak tariff on-net have been kept lower than similar offerings in Kuwait and Jordan — countries within which MTC also has interests. The PSTN charges are very comparable with the on-net costs — 2 cents or 20 percent difference. SMS will be charged at lower rates than similar services elsewhere in the Gulf.
Atheer Telecommunications was selected to develop and operate the GSM network and service in the southern region of Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) last year with the formal license agreement being awarded on Dec. 22, 2003. Atheer is operated and managed by MTC, the leading mobile telecommunications operator in Kuwait.
Since May 2003, MTC had already been providing a GSM telecom service in southern Iraq, granted under the authority by the Joint Communications Authority Board of Iraq and the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom. Key base stations were best positioned to ensure provision for the security forces and supporting those working hard on delivering humanitarian aid into the city and surrounding areas of Basra. All of the MTC Iraq network military and non-government organization customers were migrated on to the Atheer network with no loss of service.
Dr. Saad said that despite MTC’s fast growth across the region the company remains extremely profitable making 102 million Kuwaiti dinars in 2003. This reflects a 36 percent growth on profit in one year and an 80 percent increase in revenue.
“We plan to make history by turning in a profit in our first year of operations in Bahrain,” said Dr. Saad. “That’s never happened before.”
Dr. Saad went on to discuss the security situation for Atheer’s staff in Iraq. He commended the men who were sometimes working in very dangerous conditions.
“Security remains a massive challenge,” he explained. “At times we have had to withdraw our technical teams due to security issues. Right now we are only employing men on our staff in Iraq. In the future, as the security situation improves, we would welcome the employment of women.”
Atheer’s new mobile service offers more than connectivity to the people of Iraq. Dr. Saad believes that the mobile service will significantly impact and improve the quality of life for Iraqis. He felt that telecoms are in the business of establishing links between ideas, people and resources, creating the engine for economic growth.
“I have stated before that at MTC we are in the business of customer delight,” said Dr. Saad. “Today Iraqis are seeking to fulfill basic needs from a telecom provider. We will provide for those requirements plus the delight needed by our Iraqi brothers and sisters who have suffered more than the people in any other nation in the world.”