Celtel Tanzania re-brands as Zain

CELTEL Tanzania has joined its sister companies in Africa and the Middle East in adopting the brand name Zain as part of re-branding the entire African operations from Celtel, one of the leading mobile telecommunication service operators in Africa and the Middle East. Before the re-branding exercise that came to a close recently, the Kuwait mobile operator was trading in 14 African markets as Celtel International. Speaking recently at a press conference in Dar es Salaam, the Chief Operating Officer for Zain East Africa Region-in Charge of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Madagascar Mr. Bashar .T. Arafeh, said that Zain would continue to support education because they want to help people to have a wonderful life that they had had planned to have before, however he added that his company has closed an older chapter and embarked on a greater journey ahead. ”We are expanding what was the most extensive network in Tanzania to make a deeper impact on the lives of subscribers” he affirmed. As from the time the new name was announced, all Zain pre-paid and post-paid customers in Africa and the Middle East using the one network service started to enjoy the benefits of being treated as local customers wherever they are. The company operates in 22 countries with a customer base of over 50 million subscribers. Mr. Bashar note that his newly reformed firm (Zain) now hosts a total of three million active customers in Tanzania which is about 40 per cent of the total market share. Last year, the Zain Group made gross revenue of $265 million and $52 million net profit. The company said in a statement that the new name is more colorful and targets mass markets, with the slogan shifting to a wonderful world from making life better for all of the 22 operations of the group worldwide.

The Chief Operating Officer for Zain East Africa Region-in Charge of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Madagascar Mr. Bashar .T. Arafeh,

The move is aimed at unifying the company’s 22 operations to become one of the leading borderless networks in the world. This is in line with the group’s goal to make the mobile operator one of the top 10 global networks by 2011, the statement noted. One network plan started in 2006 when Celtel started to offer its services to Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and by last June, it expanded network services to Congo, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Niger, Nigeria, Gabon, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Chad, Malawi and Madagascar. This made the customer base reach 28 million customers across Africa. Plans are underway to bring Ghana in the one network service by end of this year, bringing the total number of countries under the scheme to 15, it said. Mr Bashar said the company plans to add Saudi Arabia into the one network service by the end of next year. This is due to the huge number of Tanzanians in the Middle East demanding that the service be extended into that zone, he pointed out. In the next five years, Zain plans to invest an extra $500 billion as part of its commitment of improving the rural network infrastructure, he added. Although it has re-branded its entire African operations from Celtel to Zain, the company’s management has vowed it would continue to support the education sector in Tanzania and elsewhere. In particular, Zain would continue to support artists in Africa further improve their talents in music and culture, he noted. Zain Brand is wholly owned by Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC, which is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange trading as Stock Ticker. The firm has a market capitalization of over USD 25.8 billion as of June 30th 2008.

Zain’s current headquarter building, the firm had acquired the premises from the former Tanzania Posts and Teleccommunications Corporartions (TPTC) which is located along New Bagamoyo Road opposite COSTECH headquarter building at Kijitonyama in Dar es Salaam.

Zain is currently serving over 35 million customers on the African continent, and has resolved to help the continent achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Last year, the firm donated millions of dollars worth of books and educational supplies to most government owned schools in Africa. Similarly, the firm has partnered with international establishments in bringing telephony to 400,000 people in remote areas of Africa and has many community projects across both continents. Zain’s financial results for 2007 and the first quarter of 2008 were splendid, despite fierce competition in many markets it operates. It crossed the 50 million customer milestone, as well as recording consolidated revenues of USD 3.488bn, an increase of 26 percent compared to the first quarter of 2007. Zain was established in 1983 in Kuwait as the region’s first mobile operator and was known as MTC until September 2007. From modest beginnings in Kuwait, the firm now has more than 16,000 employees serving over 50 million customers in 15 African and seven Middle Eastern Countries including Ghana and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where the company has promised would be launching its mobile telecommunications networks in the coming months. In Africa Zain operates 14 countries that includes Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. Operations in Ghana will begin in October this year.