JEDDAH, 26 May 2006 — Mobily, Saudi Arabia’s second mobile service provider, said yesterday that it planned to cover many more populated areas of the Kingdom.
Its plans include the installation of more than 2,500 base stations and coverage of 90 percent of the populated territories of the Kingdom by the end of June 2006.
The day was also marked by Mobily’s first anniversary during which it offered a 50 percent discount on all calls made by subscribers.
A cross-section of Mobily users said that they liberally made local and international calls during the day. “I made full use of the offer and called all my relatives and friends overseas,” Abdulkarim Bundakji, a Saudi businessman told Arab News.
A Saudi school student, who preferred to use his first name Muhammad, said he became a Mobily subscriber only a day before so that he could take “maximum advantage of the offer.”
Aside from the “generous” anniversary gesture shown by Mobily, the official brand name of Etihad Etisalat, the company is offering “very competitive international rates” in all its prepaid and postpaid packages,” said Mobily Chief Executive Officer Khaled Al-Kaf at a press conference at the Jeddah Hilton.
“Mobily with its major contractors including Alcatel, Motorola, Ericsson and Huwawie are working around the clock to complete the planned coverage,” said Al-Kaf who was accompanied by Sales Director Mazen Al Amirah.
Mobily, the official brand name of Etihad Etisalat, also unveiled its “3.5 G” logo to mark its anniversary. The 3.5 G is its advanced third generation network system.
Presently, Mobily has a network coverage in over 65 cities, “far exceeding” the commitment the company made before obtaining license to operate to cover 14 cities in the first six months of operation.
“This is in addition to the coverage of more than 13,000 kilometers of highways so far, spanning Mobily’s independent coverage, as well as the national roaming agreements signed with the other operators to cover the rest of the highways and villages not covered as yet by the Mobily network,” he added.
In terms of services, Al-Kaf said, Mobily was also the first mobile operator in the Kingdom that introduced the added value services of MMS, locations-based services (LBS), international roaming for prepaid SIM cards in addition to GPRS and GPRS EDGE roaming with a speed of 200 kbps, and other services including “Kelmeni” (call me), enabling disconnected Mobile phones to send free SMSs.
Al-Kaf said that Mobily’s points of sales were now available in more than 2,200 locations across the Kingdom, in the form of Mobily’s mega centers, flagships, and fully branded, co-branded and non-branded stores. Mobily’s distributors and dealers handle the last three types of stores.
GSM Association has described Mobily as the fastest growing mobile operator in the Middle East and North Africa. The report appeared in the GSM Association Newsletter’s September 2005 edition, according to Al-Kaf.
He said the secret of Mobily’s success within a year of its operation was its programs and promotions that appealed to its subscribers, both existing and new. “We come up with a new promotion every week and that’s what attracts the mobile phone users,” he said.
Asked how Mobily was preparing itself to face the competition with the likely induction of a third licensed mobile service operator, Alkaf said: “We’re fully prepared. Our plans and promotions will speak for themselves.”
The Saudi market has a strong buying power and there will be a greater penetration of mobile phone users in days to come, Alkaf said, adding that only 39 percent of the Saudi market had been penetrated before Mobily’s license.
“By the end of 2005 it rose to 59 percent and we hope to bring it to 70 percent by the end of 2006, and beyond that by 2007,” Alkaf said.
Humoud Awdah Al Ghobaini, Mobily’s PR and media manager, earlier gave a presentation, which reviewed Mobily’s yearlong progress.
The presentation also covered the latest count of its subscribers (3,824,943) and how the number was increasing every second.
