Jordan's Umniah, Egypt's Vodafone, KSA's Mobily and UAE's Etisalat top customer satisfaction rankings in regional mobile syndicated study

Zain (Fastlink), Vodafone, Mobily and Etisalat most highly recognized brands in Jordan, Egypt, KSA and UAE respectively

January 24, 2008, Dubai, UAE - Maktoob Research (www.maktoob-research.com), the full-service online research unit of Maktoob.com (www.maktoob.com), has revealed important results from a comprehensive 'Mobile Syndicated Study' that was conducted in November 2007.

The online study canvassed the opinions of 4618 cellular subscribers of various nationalities, aged 18 and above, across four countries with 1182 respondents participating from Jordan, 1264 from Egypt, 1163 from KSA and 1009 from the UAE.

The objectives in conducting the Mobile Syndicated Study were to obtain insights into the psychographics of mobile users, perception of mobile users with regard to brand visibility and brand personality of telecom operators, satisfaction levels with mobile services and mobile value added services, influences on choice of mobile operators, mobile spending trends, churn trends and mobile handset preferences.

"We set out on a similar study in May last year to determine what residents in the Middle East truly felt about the telecom services offered to them", said Tamara Deprez, Director of Maktoob Research. "While we have covered a few key areas from the previous survey, we have also sought to explore many different and equally important areas this time that will prove indispensable in helping telecom operators and mobile companies understand and respond to the needs and concerns of their customers."

Among the key findings of the survey are:

Jordan's Umniah (77%), Egypt's Vodafone (76%), KSA's Mobily (73%) and UAE's Etisalat (52%) have once again beat competitors to become the highest scorers in overall customer satisfaction in their own countries. The previous study had recorded satisfaction ratings of 75%, 74% and 70% for Umniah, Vodafone and Mobily, respectively.

Zain/Fastlink (80%), Vodafone (59%), Mobily (65%) and Etisalat (79%) have the highest brand recognition in Jordan, Egypt, KSA and UAE respectively. Of these, Mobily is not the primary operator in KSA.

A majority of mobile users showed very positive feedback when asked whether they would be interested in using one mobile handset with 2 sim-card slots (68% Jordan, 75% Egypt, 60% KSA and 64% UAE).

A growing percentage of respondents across the region use the mobile to browse the internet (18% Jordan, 24% Egypt, 35% KSA and 24% UAE).

The best telecom operator logos were adjudged to be; Jordan - the Zain logo (31%), Egypt - Vodafone logo (32%), KSA - Al Jawal logo (43%) and the UAE - Etisalat logo (62%).

69% of mobile users in Jordan, 63% in Egypt, 72% in KSA and 72% in UAE might be willing to change their current mobile operators. However, this decision will be based primarily on competitive pricing (most cited reason across all 4 countries).

The predominant reasons for users not willing to change their current operators, if given the choice were; best customer care (Jordan), best network coverage (Egypt and UAE) and overall satisfaction and see no reason to change (KSA).

If given the choice to keep their mobile numbers and move to a different telecom operator, 30% Jordanian respondents chose Umniah, 40% Egyptian mobile users chose Etisalat Misr, 34% respondents in KSA chose Mobily while 34% mobile users in UAE chose Du.

Nokia is predominantly the most preferred mobile phone manufacturer (overall 79%). It is followed by Sony Ericsson (overall 7.5%), Samsung (overall 3.85%) and Motorola (overall 3%).

An overwhelming majority of respondents in all four countries were not comfortable with the idea of watching live television on their mobiles (Jordan 78%, Egypt 88%, KSA 82% and UAE 58%)

Conversely, a majority of mobile users showed interest to receiving advertisements on their mobiles (Egypt 52%, KSA 57% and UAE 57%). 49% of Jordanian respondents were open to mobile advertising.

"Customers have begun to continuously expect more for less on an ongoing basis", said Ahmad Al-Assad, Regional Research Manager of Maktoob Research. "They expect more mobile features, a significant increase in the quality of service accompanied by competitive pricing. In cases where expectations haven't been met, customers might select the next best telecom operator."

The Mobile Syndicated Study reports, which offer the most comprehensive research data on the region's mobile industry, can be purchased online by sending an email to info@maktoob-research.com, or by contacting Ahmad Al-Assad at Maktoob Research.

To order your copies of the Mobile Syndicated Study, please email info@maktoob-research.com or call Ahmad Al-Assad on +962 6 582 1236 ext. 201. For more information regarding the products and services of Maktoob Research, please contact Tamara Deprez (tel: +971 4 3602796 or info@maktoob-research.com), or visit the website www.maktoob-research.com.

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About Maktoob Research:
Maktoob Research, member of ESOMAR, offers an online panel covering 2 million Arab consumers (and growing) in the Middle East and North Africa. Maktoob Research guarantees delivery of high-quality, super-fast quantitative research projects at highly competitive rates.

Maktoob Research can target its panel members by demographics, such as age, gender and occupation among others, which makes it possible to target specific areas, a survey targeted at students for example. Key behavioural patterns are available too.

Maktoob Research not only provides full project support to its clients via survey programming, translations and hosting, but also a complete research package, including consultancy. Research Portal can be made available - an online tool for real-time analysis. During an on-going research, research data will be available 24/7.

About Maktoob.com:
Maktoob.com was founded in the year 2000 as the world's first Arabic/English email service. In a few years, Maktoob has grown to become a full-service web portal, offering world-class communications and information tools that empower the Arab Internet user. More than just the best and most popular Arabic/English email service in the world, Maktoob.com offers everything from chat to discussion forums, from e-cards to mobile downloads, from news to the latest jokes and everything in between.

Maktoob's main mission is to maintain and grow its position as the world's leading Arab Internet portal by constantly offering its users a unique experience and by providing them with new services and products that encourage open communications and community building.

For more information about Maktoob, please visit http://www.maktoobgroup.com/maktoob_en.html

About Maktoob Group:
Maktoob Group comprises a network of leading online media companies and websites. In addition to the Arab world's leading portal, www.maktoob.com, the Maktoob Group network includes Souq.com (www.souq.com) auctions and marketplace, Araby.com (www.Araby.com) the first Arabic search engine, and cashU (www.cashu.com) the electronic payment solution, in addition to several other leading sites and services in the region. In 2005, Abraaj Capital, a leading regional private equity firm, acquired a stake in Maktoob.

For more information about the Group, please visit www.maktoobgroup.com

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Sue-Ellen Lazrado
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Email: sue@headlinepr.com