Discussions held with Boutros Harb during Mobile World Congress

Mobile broadband investment viewed as key to Lebanon's wider social and economic development

Barcelona, Kuwait - 11 March, 2015

Zain Group, a leading telecom innovator in eight markets across the Middle East and Africa, announces the holding of fruitful discussions between the Group Chairman, Asaad Al Banwan, Group CEO, Scott Gegenheimer, Touch Lebanon CEO Wassim Mansour and the Minister of Telecommunications in Lebanon, Boutros Harb and several ministry officials during the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Zain Group, which manages one of two government-owned mobile networks in Lebanon, along with the Lebanon Telecom Ministry are keen to see 4G LTE technology expanded nationwide, as today it is only available in limited pockets in major areas of the country. The Zain executives and the Minister both acknowledged the positive enormous benefits of the wide-scale adoption of high-speed mobile broadband for the Lebanese economy as well as for its society in general.

Commenting on the discussions, Zain Group Chairman, Mr. Al Banwan said, "It was an honor meeting with Mr Boutros Harb during which we highlighted the Zain Group's vast experience in the deployment of high speed 4G LTE networks, having already delivered them successfully in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and recently in Jordan. At the start of the year we also introduced 3.9G in Iraq, and we can already see the positive impact the network availability has had on consumers and businesses alike."

Mr. Al Banwan continued, "We are dedicated to the enrichment of life for the communities we serve. We firmly believe the expansion of 4G LTE services across more of Lebanon will bring us closer to achieving this, and the positive conversations held with the Minister will support our mutual interests and efforts."

Zain Group has been managing the 'touch' operation in Lebanon since June, 2004 and now as the leading operator in country serves over 2.1 million customers, maintaining 1,206 nationwide network sites at the end of 2014.

Scott Gegenheimer said, "Zain Group remains a committed participant in the telecom market in Lebanon, and just as in our other markets, our success will depend on our ability to offer customers what they want, and to use technology to continually evolve our products and offerings."

He continued, "I would like to thank Mr. Harb for sparing the time to visit our stand at Mobile World Congress on more than one occasion, in order to discuss the development of the telecom market in Lebanon in general, and 4G LTE specifically. I believe our vision for the future in this respect is well aligned."

A recent report published by the GSM Association highlighted that a 10 percentage point rise in broadband connections leads to nearly a one per cent increase in GDP and that for every extra 1,000 broadband connections, 33 new jobs are created.

Increased broadband connections in Middle East are forecast to generate billions of GDP growth and create hundreds of thousands of jobs according to the GSMA report.  

Zain Group had a busy participation at Mobile World Congress 2015, where it hosted scores of business partners, dignitaries, and interested parties at its booth.

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About Zain Group
Zain is a leading telecommunications operator across the Middle East and Africa providing mobile voice and data services to over 44.3 million active customers as of 31 December, 2014. With a commercial presence in 8 countries, Zain operates in: Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and South Sudan. In Lebanon, the Group manages 'touch' on behalf of the government. In Morocco, Zain has a 15.5% stake in 'INWI', through a joint venture. Zain is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (stock ticker: ZAIN).

For more, please email info@zain.com  or visit: www.zain.com; www.facebook.com/zain; www.twitter.com/zain; www.youtube.com/zain; www.instagram.com/zaingroup; www.linkedin.com/company/zain

© Press Release 2015