Celtel changes name to Zain
Aug 02, 2008
CELTEL subscribers can now travel to the Middle East and retain their local calling rates after the company completed its merger with a Kuwaiti telecommunications giant and changed its name to Zain.
By Lydia Namubiru
CELTEL subscribers can now travel to the Middle East and retain their local calling rates after the company completed its merger with a Kuwaiti telecommunications giant and changed its name to Zain.
The name change was announced during a Nairobi press conference Friday afternoon.
“By re-branding to Zain, we are bringing together our African and Middle East operations under a single, strong and unique identity,†said Zain Group’s CEO, Dr. Saad Al Barrak.
At the same conference, Zain Group launched the world’s first inter-continental borderless network.
“Our One Network service now includes the Zain countries in the Middle East,†Fred Masadde Kabuye, the external affairs manager of Zain Uganda explains.
“Just send your relative in Iraq a Zain Uganda SIM card and you will be communicating with them at the same rate as if they were next door.â€
With the one network service, Zain customers will be able to travel to any of the 20 countries in Africa and the Middle East where the group operates and not experience any disruptions or tariff changes. They will also receive calls free of change.
Celtel Africa has been serving 28 million customers in Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The group will launch its operations in Ghana later this year.
MTC, the parent company of the Zain Group, on the other hand, has been serving 50 million subscribers in Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Sudan and soon the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. All these countries are now part of the Zain One Network zone.
In Kampala, the change was celebrated on Friday night during a concert by American music star Wyclef Jean at the Lugogo Cricket Oval.
CELTEL subscribers can now travel to the Middle East and retain their local calling rates after the company completed its merger with a Kuwaiti telecommunications giant and changed its name to Zain.
The name change was announced during a Nairobi press conference Friday afternoon.
“By re-branding to Zain, we are bringing together our African and Middle East operations under a single, strong and unique identity,†said Zain Group’s CEO, Dr. Saad Al Barrak.
At the same conference, Zain Group launched the world’s first inter-continental borderless network.
“Our One Network service now includes the Zain countries in the Middle East,†Fred Masadde Kabuye, the external affairs manager of Zain Uganda explains.
“Just send your relative in Iraq a Zain Uganda SIM card and you will be communicating with them at the same rate as if they were next door.â€
With the one network service, Zain customers will be able to travel to any of the 20 countries in Africa and the Middle East where the group operates and not experience any disruptions or tariff changes. They will also receive calls free of change.
Celtel Africa has been serving 28 million customers in Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The group will launch its operations in Ghana later this year.
MTC, the parent company of the Zain Group, on the other hand, has been serving 50 million subscribers in Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Sudan and soon the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. All these countries are now part of the Zain One Network zone.
In Kampala, the change was celebrated on Friday night during a concert by American music star Wyclef Jean at the Lugogo Cricket Oval.