RIYADH, 29 January 2006 — Eleven lucky winners among the 11 million Al Jawal customers received brand new five series BMW cars (520i, 2006 model) each, from a live draw held last week at a glittering function at the Faisaliah Hotel here.
The event was attended by over 500 distinguished guests including vendors, partners, Al Jawal customers and employees of the Saudi Telecom Company (STC).
Muhammad Jameel Mullah, minister of communications was also present at the glamorous function where there was a light, laser and sound show. STC President Khalid Al-Molhem drew the 11 names from Al Jawal customer base. The winners will also have free calls for a year.
The winners included Mohammed Al-Homaidi, Magdhi Ismail, Sabin Taj, Sulaiman Al-Onaizi, Hassan Al-Turki, Mofeez Mumtaz, Ahmed Antabi, Badeed Al-Hajri, Saeed Al-Hamzah, Rameez Marjan and Hatim Al-Nafi.
The program was compered by TV presenter Salman Almutaywea who presented awards to STC’s retail partners. Launched in 1998, Al Jawal had 600,000 customers at the beginning and in 2000 it grew to 1.4 million and again to 2.5 million following the introduction of Sawa cards. By 2002 it reached five million. STC, the second largest company in the Kingdom has over 22,000 employees, of which 88 percent are Saudi nationals.
Speaking on the occasion, Al-Molhem said: “I am truly honored and excited to be the one to draw the winners and am really happy to know the lucky winners getting prizes worth more than SR3 million.” He added that the STC has taken this business to new heights. “ We could not have achieved this remarkable achievement of 11 million without our loyal and dedicated customers.”
“Even though we have a healthy competition in the Kingdom, we continue to outgrow them on a daily basis and as a business we remain focused on delivering our strategy for growth,” he said, pointing out that during the 50 days of the end of 2005, STC gained a record breaking 1.4 million customers by registering a growth of 16 percent. He said the total number of customers is greater than the combined total of all the GCC countries mobile users and gives the company a total market penetration of 57.14 percent. It became the largest telecom’s business in the Kingdom and the GCC, with 95 percent coverage. “ STC is one of the top telecom operators in the world,” he stressed.