Zain connects Africa to Middle East

The move follows the transformation of Zain into the world's first cross-continental borderless network and rebranding of its Africa operations to Zain in a bid to boost the firm's global presence and extend affordable cross-border communications to its customers, in Kenya, on August 1.

At a press conference held in Nairobi, Dr. Saad Al Barrak, Zain group's chief executive said, by rebranding to Zain, the company is bringing together its African and Middle East operations under a single, strong and unique identity through "One Network."

“We believe the Zain brand provides an optimal platform upon which we can build a top 100 global brand with the ultimate goal of better serving our customers. It builds upon the success of our African operations and will propel the Zain Group towards becoming one of the top ten global mobile telecommunications companies by 2011,” Al Barrak told journalist.

The service will be available to 50 million people stretching from the west coast of Africa to the Middle East, covering an area larger than the United States of America. One Network allows Zain customers affordable cross-border communications, helping friends and families stay connected.

Al Barrak added that, from today, all Zain customers (pre-paid and post-paid) in Africa and the Middle East using "One Network" will enjoy the benefits of being treated as a "local" customer wherever they are.

“Customers can make calls and send messages at local rates when communicating with a travelling Zain customer who will receive incoming calls free-of-charge and be able to make calls back home at local rates.” In Uganda, Zain customers are charged UGX320 per unit while an SMS is billed UGX110, using these rates to call and sms the Middle East, will be the lowest in Uganda. Other players including MTN and UT as well as Warid charge, UGX600, UGX450 and UGX499, respectively.

The brand, Zain was simultaneously unveiled in 14 country operations across Africa including Burkina Faso, Chad, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.