MTC eyes greater role in Lebanon as part of expansion plans
Beirut, 22 March 2006: Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) called in more than 130 key company personnel from the 19 countries in which it operates to help plan strategy to achieve the group's target of becoming a global force in the telecoms business within five years.
The group said the meeting, held in Beirut on March 16 and 17, addressed MTC's strategy in terms of its activities and new structure. The two-day meeting of representatives from across the Middle East and North Africa was called to review and continue the expansion operations achieved by MTC over the past two years, and especially in the past 12 months. The group has expanded from six countries in the Middle East (Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq, Sudan and Lebanon) to 19 Arab and African countries through the acquisition of Celtel in Africa. Celtel operates in 13 African countries.
MTC CEO Dr. Saad Al Barrak said, "The meeting was to introduce everyone to our strategy to become a leading global player in the mobile sector by 2011."
Referring to the announced privatization plans for Lebanon's state-owned mobile telephone services, Al Barrak added, "Despite the difficult times that Lebanon is going through, we were keen on holding this annual meeting here because of the strategic importance we give to this country, especially since we aspire to play a role in developing the mobile sector in Lebanon."
On the need to promote dialogue within MTC Group, Al Barrak said this would enhance both the working efficiency and the performance level of the company. "We can all use our particular knowledge and skills to help each other and thus help our customers," he said.
Al Barrak said the group needed to adopt a flexible strategy on expansion, taking into account the local market structure for each of its current and potential subsidiaries. The level of services provided needed to be consistently high across the board although the route to achieving that goal may vary.
Al Barrak said the expansion strategy initiated by the group three years ago had already enabled MTC to become the fourth largest mobile operator worldwide with some 15 million customers in its 19-country network.
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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 13 sub-Saharan African countries with 6500 employees, we provide a comprehensive range of mobile voice and data services to over 14 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, in Sudan as Mobitel and in 13 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, 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
For further information:
Lara Abdul Malak
Media Relations
+9659006935
l.abdulmalak@mtc.com.kw
© Press Release 2006
