DOHA: The Al Jazeera Channel and Al Majaz Telecom have recently signed an agreement with Bahrain's Telecommunications Company Batelco to provide breaking, political, business, and sports news through Al Jazeera Mobile Short Messaging Service SMS to customers in Bahrain.
Batelco subscribers in Bahrain can subscribe to Al Jazeera Mobile, in Arabic or English, via calling 196 or by registering on the company's brand new mobile portal "aywah" (www.aywah.com.bh).
In the future, Al Jazeera Channel will introduce the (WAP) technology, where "Batelco" subscribers can browse a selection of articles from the AlJazeera.Net website through their GSM, and "Video Streaming", where mobile owners can watch Al Jazeera Channel news and programmes on their GSM. In addition to that, "aywah" has already introduced Al Jazeera Mobile through its WAP portal (wap.aywah.com.bh), said a press release yesterday.
Al Jazeera Channel's Marketing Director Hamad Yahya Al Nuaimi expressed his pleasure over the partnership with Batelco. "It is gratifying that Bahrain is another country to utilise our service, and can be added to the list of countries where Al Jazeera Mobile is operating, such as, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, Yemen, Sudan, and Syria. We are looking forward to extending the reach of Al Jazeera Mobile service worldwide," he said.
"This partnership with Batelco is a significant step for Al Majaz Telecom. We consider this move as part of our pre-established plans that aspire to guarantee the delivery of Al Jazeera Mobile News Service to people seeking out news and information all around the world," said Mohammed Al Obaidly, the Chief Executive Officer of Al Majaz Telecom.
"Our mobile portal (aywah) is primarily aimed at the youth market with a whole host of ring tones, wallpapers, screensavers, games, local news and so on. The addition of Al Jazeera Channel news adds dimensions that extend the appeal of the service deeper into other areas of multi-media communication and into a wider marketplace," said Hamza Ali, Senior Manager Mobile Services at Batelco.
© The Peninsula 2005
