MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain) recently celebrated it’s first quarterly staff gathering in 2006 with a day of fun team activities aimed at bringing the entire MTC-Vodafone community of employees together. The celebrations were held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Spa.
“We place the greatest value in our people,” said Mahmoud Hashish, Chief Operating Officer, MTC Vodafone (Bahrain). “People are at the core of every organisation and our efforts are focused on maintaining a flat workplace that rewards efficiency and effectiveness. The regular staff gatherings are an opportunity to bring all our people together in an informal, relaxed environment both to celebrate and reward employee achievements and to involve everyone in activities aimed at empowering and encouraging MTC-Vodafone employees to be innovative, creative, efficient and effective members of the ‘MTC family’.”
The celebrations began with a reading from the Holy Qura’an followed by a speech by Dr. Saad Al Barrak, Deputy Chairman of MTC-Group – commenting on the company’s achievements since it entered the Bahrain telecommunications market just over two years ago. “We have been leading the race in the telecoms arena and are constantly building on our service offerings. MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain) offers the industry’s most technologically advanced data transfer network anywhere in the globe with the recent introduction of HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) – known as 3.5G. We also recently introduced video conferencing through our GPRS/EDGE/3.5G network, bulk SMS/MMS messaging services and Push Email capabilities. These offerings would not have been possible without the dedication of you, the MTC-Vodafone team.”
Dr Saad applauded the success of MTC-Vodafone staff members who recently graduated from university, earning degrees in a number of fields including computer sciences, sales, IT, human resources and marketing. MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain) employs a young, well-trained, highly energetic, capable and largely Bahraini workforce. With a license target to achieve 75% Bahrainisation by 2007, MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain) has already exceeded the initial target two years ahead of schedule, with a workforce composed of 85% Bahraini employees.
A song written by Fareed Shujaie, an MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain) employee, was played featuring Fawaz Al Shaikh as lead singer and Nouf al Sowaidi, Manal Isa, Latifa Al Shamlan as backup singers. In addition, a movie produced, directed and written by the MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain) HR department was also aired, giving the gathered audience a light-hearted look at the employment cycle from application stage to placement.
The gathering concluded with a competition organized by the “Guess What” committee. The committee chose five tables at random, giving each table some paper, balloons, scotch tape, rope, scissors and a Pepsi can. The objective of the “Elevation” competition was to build a free standing structure capping it at the top with the Pepsi can. The HR table - consisting of Group HR, Bahrain HR, Jordan HR and the HR consultants - won the competition.
The event was organized by the social committee, which draws its members from a number of different departments, and was attended by MTC Group as well as local MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain) staff.
To find out more about the MTC-Vodafone corporate social responsibility activities and its innovative mobile communication solutions, mobile users can browse the Internet and log onto: www.mtc-vodafone.com.bh or call our customer service centre at 107
About MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain):
MTC-Vodafone comes as a result of a Network Partner Agreement between the Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC), a GCC regional company, borne in Kuwait and Vodafone, a global company based in the UK. MTC-Vodafone, having been as chosen by Bahrain’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority to develop the 2nd GSM service, launched its services on December 28th, 2003.
Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) was founded in 1983 and is perhaps one of the oldest mobile service providers in the world. MTC has a reputation for pioneering new services in the Middle East and constantly seeks to forge partnerships with key global companies to bring the best products and services to the region. MTC is considered to be a very successful, customer focused and ambitious company and has aspirations that fit with the Vodafone strategy for global customer services.
About MTC
Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) is the pioneer of mobile services in the Middle East and now a major player in Africa. We began life in 1983 in Kuwait as the region’s first mobile operator, and since the initiation of our “3x3x3” expansion strategy in 2002, we have expanded rapidly.
As a leading mobile and data services operator in five Middle Eastern and 14 sub-Saharan African countries with 6500 employees, we provide a comprehensive range of mobile voice and data services to over 13 million individual and business customers.
We operate in Kuwait and Bahrain as mtc-vodafone, in Jordan as Fastlink, in Iraq as mtc atheer, in Lebanon as mtc touch, and in 14 sub-Saharan countries in Africa as Celtel: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia and most recently Madagascar.
Listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (Code; Tele), MTC’s market capitalization exceeded US$13 billion as of December 31, 2005. For more information, please visit: www.mtctelecom.com
