RIYADH, 11 June 2008 — Saudi Telecomm Company (STC) is participating in the Philippines National Day celebrations by offering Philippine residents in the Kingdom a 50 percent reduction on all outgoing calls to their country at a rate of SR1.3 per minute beginning tomorrow. Sa’ad ibn Zafer Al-Qahtani, vice president, STC Residential Unit, announced yesterday that the price reduction would begin from 12 a.m. Thursday and will last for 24 hours until 12 a.m. Friday. The offer covers all HATIF, ALJAWAL, SAWA and LANA customers and also all prepaid card categories including Zajool, Marhaba, Alo, International Key and Salam.
Mobily Apologizes for Disruption
RIYADH, 11 June 2008 — Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) issued a statement yesterday apologizing for the short disruption of service on its network for customers in the Central and Eastern regions, who faced challenges when attempting to make calls for a short period of time due to a problem with one of the company’s exchanges. Mobily’s network operations team took immediate action to rectify the disruption and brought service back to its smooth delivery quickly. In the statement, Mobily issued an apology expressing its commitment to high qualities of service and the continued expansion of its 3.5G network.
Trade Deal Sans Politics, GCC Tells EU
JEDDAH, 11 June 2008 — A meeting of the foreign ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council said Monday that they would not accept any political conditions attached to the signing of a free trade agreement by the European Union being discussed over the past several years. “It is the council’s hope that the negotiations and signing of the free trade agreement would be completed before the end of the year, but without inserting political issues to the trade agreement,” according to a press statement issued at the end of the meeting of a GCC ministerial council in Jeddah on Monday.
Taib Bank Takes Over PDF Kurumsal
MANAMA, 11 June 2008 — Taib Bank’s high growth plans have been significantly advanced with an important strategic acquisition in Turkey, one of its key focus markets. Taib’s Istanbul-based subsidiary that was established as Turkey’s first foreign investment bank in 1987 has fully completed the 100 percent acquisition of PDF Kurumsal in a cash and share transaction with PDF’s founding partners and shareholders. PDF is an Istanbul-based corporate finance advisory firm renowned for its Turkish market leadership in M&A advisory, tender offers, distressed debt management, privatizations and project financing.
