Telecom Market Offers Exceptional Growth Potential
| Kuwait provides an attractive base for US companies wishing to capitalize on outstanding opportunities in the Middle East’s telecom sector. According to industry experts speaking at the recent Telecoms World Conference in Dubai, the Middle East’s telecom markets grew by an average 30 to 40% between 1998 and 2004, and that growth is set to continue as the sector’s liberalization is stepped up throughout the region. |
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uwait is not only liberalizing its telecom sector; it also completely rebuilt its telecom infrastructure following the Gulf War, with the result that today the country boasts one of the world’s most up-to-date telecom networks.
Companies operating in Kuwait can count on a wide variety of services, including a well-developed leased-line system as well as ISDN, broadband and more. In addition, Kuwait is linked to the regional FOG (Fiber Optic Gulf) network and has backup links with Saudi Arabia as well as satellite communciations through ArabSat, IntelSat, NileSat and InmarSat.
As for the local market, the Kuwaiti government has been opening up satellite, broadband and wireless telecommunications to private sector investment. AT&T, Sprint and Siemens have already entered the market through assisting the country rebuild its network, and MTC-Vodafone leads the mobile telecommunications sector, along with Al-Wataniya Telecom, which has expanded beyond Kuwait into the Algerian and Iraq markets.
Kuwait’s cellular market has seen outstanding growth, with penetration rising to around 80%. Value-added services and compelling content will be the keys for driving usage and growth in the future. Meanwhile, Kuwait’s Internet-services sector still has plenty of room for expansion. With a population of 2.26 million, Kuwait officially has only around 80,000 Internet subscribers, and the number of both subscribers and users of Internet services in Kuwait is expected to rise by 10 to 15% per year over the next few years. |
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| Wataniya Telecom |
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ataniya Telecom, Kuwait’s first privately owned operator, has seen exponential growth since its founding in 1999 and has attracted a total of four million customers thanks to its outstanding “red carpet” services and leading edge technology. “All our customers get the red carpet treatment all day, every day,” says Harri Koponen, General Manager, adding, “Our advanced technology and customer-service orientation are the keys to our success.”
With one of the world’s most cutting-edge mobile networks, Wataniya offers an advanced SIM card for customers’ handsets, paving the way for a number of advanced content and service applications. Wataniya has also formed strategic partnerships with global players like CNN, Yahoo, Rotana and Time Out Magazine to provide exceptional content choices, and recently signed an agreement with Nokia to provide even better network services.
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Harri Koponen
General Manager
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“Our customers get the red carpet treatment”
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Wataniya has operations in Tunisia, the Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Algeria as well as in Kuwait, and aims to continue to expand in the Middle East-North Africa region.
One of Wataniya’s strong points is the unsurpassed roaming capability the company offers its customers. “You can use your Wataniya phone around the world,” Koponen says, adding, “Wataniya’s services are better than what many companies in the US provide.”
Always ahead of its time, Wataniya recently announced a new service, SMS travel booking, in a joint project with Jazeera Airways; Wataniya is the first company in the Middle East to provide such service. Wataniya Telecom also recently launched EDGE service in Kuwait with the Sierra Wireless AirCard 775.
Wataniya has positioned itself as the ideal provider for US companies or investors in Kuwait, and is also open to working with US companies. As Koponen points out, “Wataniya is a regional company with a global presence that operates at the same levels of customer service and technology as any other global telecom company.” |
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