MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain), the Kingdom’s most innovative mobile operator, has announced plans to expand its mobile network capacity to cater to more than 400,000 customers. The planned expansion of network capabilities is a direct reflection of the company’s commitment to its customers and to the Kingdom of Bahrain, giving more mobile customers the opportunity to migrate to a new era in mobile technology.
This expansion will include the installation of 38 new base stations all over the Kingdom, operating both 2G and 3G networks, throughout 2006. Also included is the installation of the latest software onto the network, enabling MTC Vodafone to continue its leadership in providing the most advanced and innovative services to it’s customers.
“With this upgrade, we reiterate our promise to Bahrain’s mobile users to lead the way to a more high-tech, on-the-go future. The planned expansion will not only allow more customers to join the mobile revolution sweeping the Kingdom, but will also allow us to bring more cutting-edge services to the market,” said Ismail Fikree, Chief Technology Officer at MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain).
“With this upgrade, our 2G customers will continue to receive our renowned services and quality mobile communications, at the same time as our 3G customers enjoy superior voice quality and our first-in-the-region high-speed (384kbps) mobile internet service.”
Highlighting the implementation details of this expansion and upgrade, Mr. Fikree added, “MTC-Vodafone’s (Bahrain) dedicated team of Network Technology engineers will be conducting this expansion with the help and collaboration of Nokia’s network division team. We will be conducting the expansion work throughout a number of days during the month of February, during early morning off-peak hours to ensure that the impact on our customers is kept to a minimum. We would like to apologise in advance for any inconvenience that may be caused to our valuable customers, and to request that our customers to please bear with us.”
The planned expansion comes on the heels of a number of new service enhancements to MTC-Vodafone’s (Bahrain) state-of-the-art network. Recently introduced services include a web version of bulk SMS and MMS messaging. This service allows customers to send messages to a large number of recipients conveniently, quickly and cost-effectively.
Push Email, the newest evolution of mobile email technology, has also received further enhancements and features. Push Email operates on a server determined email delivery mechanism, wherein new email is immediately delivered to the recipient’s mobile device upon reaching the inbox. It provides instant access to POP/IMAP email accounts for customers who have installed the software on their mobiles.
Another revolutionary offering is the instant SMS translation service. For the first time in Bahrain, customers will be able to send a word or phrase in English or Arabic to a predetermined number and have the translations as well as the pronunciations sent back to them via SMS.
Other services recently introduced include additional radio channels to the live radio and TV streaming service, WiFi Roaming, new calling and data plans such as Hewar, pre-paid data cards and data bundles.
MTC-Vodafone is the first operator in the Kingdom to have 41 GPRS roaming partners and 12 3G roaming partners. MTC-Vodafone has also successfully provisioned its entire current customer base with latest 3G services. All the customer requires to access the exciting world of 3G services is a 3G capable handset.
To find out more about the MTC-Vodafone products and services, mobile customers can browse the Internet and log onto: www.mtc-vodafone.com.bh or call our customer service center 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 visit: www.mtctelecom.com
