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Saudi Arabia: STC launches UIR service in 30 states

RIYADH: Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) , the region's largest telecommunications company, has launched a unified international roaming (UIR) service in 30 countries around the globe which will charge only SR1 per minute for receiving calls and SR1.50 for outgoing calls within the countries and to the Kingdom.

"The new service which will be commissioned from Aug. 1 will cover most in the Middle East, Europe, Indonesia, Turkey and South Africa linked with 30 global telecommunications operators," STC Vice President Jameel Al-Mulhim told Arab News, adding that this network would provide travelers with fixed and low cost rates for calls during their stay in these countries. "Based on the company's transparent approach customers will receive a message explaining the roaming rates as well as the preferred roaming network as they arrive in those respective countries," he said. " STC 's Unified International Roaming Network is a strategic step that follows and complements global communications trends," said STC President and CEO Saud Al-Daweesh. "By partnering with leading mobile operators in the region we have established a tariff of economical rates with a discount reaching 69 percent in some countries and providing great value for our customers who travel extensively across the region while ensuring both transparency and fixed rates."

The first phase of the Unified International Roaming service includes leading mobile operators in the region such as Batelco in Bahrain, Oman Mobile and Nawras in Oman, Du in the UAE and Wataniya in Kuwait. Covering the rest of the Middle East, STC 's partners are Umniah in Jordan, Vodafone in Egypt and SyriaTel and MTN in Syria. It also covers STC companies which include Axis in Indonesia, Avea in Turkey, Cell-C in South Africa, in addition to Vodafone Group starting with Egypt and covering the rest of the European continent and Australia. "This service will offer unique prices for travelers especially when making calls back to the Kingdom as well as receiving calls," Al-Daweesh said, adding that other facilities include SMS and Internet usage based on the agreed tariffs with the operators.

"Excellence in customer service is our No. 1 priority," said Al-Daweesh. "By enhancing our efficiency, we continue to maintain our leading market position and generate additional growth internationally by strategically planned developments, such as the UIR Network, to fulfill STC 's personal communications potential to the maximum extent by providing the best service with the least cost."

This move by STC comes following complaints by clients who have used the roaming facility during their travels and were shocked by the high bills. "After using STC 's roaming facility in Morocco for a couple of weeks I received a bill for SR2,700 although I have a credit limit of SR2,000," said Saleh Ameri, a Saudi working in the private sector.

He said that he was not informed about the rate during his visit to Morocco and was not aware that his credit limit had been canceled and was to now limitless. He said that when he called the STC to clarify the issue he was told that it a company policy to cancel the credit limit while using the roaming facility. This they did in case the clients had to make some emergency calls. "If I had known this, I would have not have used the roaming facility as it would have been much cheaper if I had bought a new SIM card from Morocco," he said.

Saleh Al-Sheehi, in his column in Al-Watan newspaper last month, wrote about the difficulty of the STC 's roaming facility. He wrote about a friend who spent 6 days in Egypt and Morocco and his bill exceeded SR5,000. He urged people to be aware and careful while using the roaming facility.

By Mohammed Rasooldeen

© Arab News 2008