MANAMA, 27 January 2008 — Amid continued expansion in the telecommunications industry in the region, the existence of legal and regulatory framework is deemed essential particularly to the mobile industry development.
Mohammad Shabib, Zain Group chief regulatory officer, said “we take regulation, and the different regulatory environments within which we operate, very seriously. Nearly all of our 22 operations in Africa and the Middle East have to operate in regulatory environments that are at varying levels of maturity and development. Here in Bahrain for example, the regulator is well established and fully functional. In other countries, regulation is sometimes still in the development or early implementation stage. By sharing experiences and skills across our operations, we will raise the standards of our own teams that will be of direct benefit and make a positive contribution to the regulatory environments in each country.”
In a workshop held here on Jan. 21-24, senior management representatives from Zain’s regulatory departments from 15 African and 7 Middle East countries, shared their experiences and learning in Africa and the Middle East region.
“The workshop and associated discussions are timed to help set Zain’s Regulatory goals for 2008 in line with the group’s strategic initiatives and plans to be a top 10 global mobile company by 2011,” Shabib said.
The four-day event covered a wide range of regulatory subjects such as interconnection regimes (the arrangements for one operator to allow calls from one network to another), regulatory governance developments and technological innovations that have a direct impact on regulatory affairs and practices.
In Africa, Zain currently operates under the Celtel brand in 14 sub-Saharan countries (soon 15 with the recent acquisition of Westel in Ghana). Celtel is the most successful pan-African mobile network, offering telecommunications services to more people in Africa than any other network. Regulatory best practices are crucial for many of Celtel’s customers in Africa who are enjoying the advantages of the innovative and cost-saving One Network service which is the world’s first borderless mobile phone network currently spanning 12 African countries. This effectively means that Celtel customers do not incur roaming charges when calling from one Celtel operator to another providing the service.
Dr. Ahmed Shatti, chief operating officer of Zain (Bahrain), added that “I am delighted to see so many Zain activities here in Bahrain sharing ideas and knowledge that will bring benefits to the local economy as well as to Zain customers locally and internationally.”
He said Zain’s Regulatory Affairs meeting was a forerunner of many other such group-wide meetings to be held in Bahrain in the future given that the emergent country has been chosen as the location of the new Zain International HQ.
Rob Middlehurst, director of market and competition, Bahrain’s Telecoms Regulatory Authority (TRA), said “it is extremely beneficial for regulators such as Bahrain’s TRA to meet with, present our perspectives and to share our own learning with Telecom operators.”
