Zain, the leading mobile telecommunications provider in the Middle East and Africa, announced the expansion of 'Zap', its award-winning mobile commerce service to the African nations of Niger, Sierra Leone and in the boundaries of a full commercial pilot in Malawi. The move follows the successful launch of the service in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in February 2009 where more than 10 million people have already used the service.
Zap is the most comprehensive and accessible mobile commerce service in Africa, now serving over 150 million people in six countries on the continent, allowing them, in many cases for the first time, access to advanced financial services through their mobile phones. With this expansion, Zain is now the biggest mobile commerce operator in the world in terms of geographic coverage, enabled customers and service functionalities.
This innovative mobile commerce service was introduced in these three countries in partnership with leading international banks*, allowing Zain customers in Zap-enabled countries to use their mobile phone to:
o Withdraw cash or pay for goods and services, school fees and utility bills, including electricity and water
o Receive money from or send money to friends and family
o Send and receive money to their bank accounts
o Top-up their or someone else's airtime
o Manage their bank accounts
Zap is also part of Zain's pioneering 'One Network' platform, meaning that customers can benefit from all of the Zap features when travelling to an associate Zain 'One Network' country. The platform allows travelling customers to move across geographic borders without roaming surcharges, make calls/SMS at local rates, receive incoming calls for free as well as recharge their mobile phones with locally purchased top up cards.
"The expansion of this revolutionary mobile commerce service to Malawi, Niger and Sierra Leone is an extremely important step in pushing the boundaries of mobile communications," said Dr. Saad Al Barrak, Zain Group CEO. "We are proud to play a role in improving people's lives by giving 150 million people access to effective and efficient financial services, fulfilling our brand promise of 'A wonderful world'".
The Zap mobile commerce service will provide customers with increased security and flexibility, reducing the need to carry cash and ensuring payments between friends and family remain secure. A password is needed for each transaction and the service is protected through a state-of-the-art security application. Customers will also benefit from being able to access the service 24 / 7 through their handset, providing the convenience of accessing cash anytime, anywhere. The service is supported on all handsets including ultra low cost handsets (ULCH), which Zain is successfully rolling out across the continent.
"We already saw impact Zap has made the economies of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda," added Dr. Al Barrak. "We are confident that we will see a similar impact in Malawi, Niger and Sierra Leone, where formal banking services are largely restricted to urban hubs. Together with our financial partners, we have ensured that Zap mobile commerce services meet all the required in-country banking regulations as stipulated by the respective Central Banks."
Zain plans on rolling out Mobile Commerce services in all its mobile operations on both continents in the future, subject to regulatory approvals.
- Ends -
Notes to editors
- The International Banks that Zain cooperates within each country through the 'Zap' Mobile Commerce service are as follows:
a) Malawi: National Bank of Malawi (NBM) and NBS Bank
b) Niger: EcoBank
c) Sierra Leone : Zenith Bank
d) Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda: CitiBank and Standard Chartered
- In addition, EcoBank, Zenith, NBM, CitiBank and Standard Chartered will facilitate payments and settlement processes in accordance with the terms and conditions stipulated by the banking regulations in their respective countries.
About Zain
Zain is a leading telecommunications operator across the Middle East and Africa providing mobile voice and data services to over 70 million active customers as at 30 September, 2009 with a commercial presence in 23 countries.
Zain operates in the following countries: Bahrain, Burkina Faso, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. In Lebanon, the company manages 'mtc-touch' on behalf of the government. In Morocco, Zain owns 31% of Wana Telecom through a joint venture.
Zain offers innovative services in its markets such as 'One Network', the world's first borderless mobile telecommunications network enabling customers when abroad to receive calls and sms without charge and to make voice and data calls at local rates throughout 22 countries in Africa and the Middle East.
This service allows a customer to top up airtime in their home country or from more than 1,000,000 outlets within Zain's 'One Network' footprint.
The Zain brand is wholly owned by Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC, which is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (Stock ticker: ZAIN). Zain is listed in the Financial Times' Global 500 Index which ranks the world's largest companies based on market capitalization
(http://www.ft.com/reports/ft5002008). Zain aims to become one of the top ten mobile operators in the world by end of the year 2011. For more, please visit www.zain.com or email info@zain.com
© Press Release 2010
