Zain Group, the mobile network operator servicing over 50 million customers in 22 countries across the Middle East has rebranded its entire African operations from Celtel to Zain. The move coincides with the linking of the worlds first borderless mobile service One Network, across two continents.
14 country operations across Africa will immediately rebrand to Zain. These are Burkina Faso, Chad, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Zain will launch its mobile operation in Ghana later in 2008. By rebranding to Zain, we are bringing together our African and Middle East operations under a single, strong and unique identity, says Zain Group CEO, Dr. Saad Al Barrak,. We believe the Zain brand provides an optimal platform upon which we can build a top 100 global brand with the ultimate goal of better serving our customers. It builds upon the success of our African operations and will propel the Zain Group towards becoming one of the top 10 global mobile telecommunications companies by 2011.
To mark the launch of its new identity across Africa, Zain has also announced the creation of the worlds first cross-continental borderless network, extending and linking its One Network service between Africa and the Middle East. The service will be available to 500 million people, stretching from the west coast of Africa to the Middle East, covering an area larger than the United States. The company says that One Network enables its customers to benefit affordable cross-border communications, helping friends and families stay connected.
All Zain customers, both pre- and post-paid, in Africa and the Middle East using One Network will enjoy the benefits of being treated as a local customer wherever they are. Customers can make calls and send messages at local rates when communicating with a travelling Zain customer, who will receive incoming calls free-of-charge and be able to make calls back home at local rates. Pre-paid customers can also top up their phones with recharge cards bought from either their home country or more than 1 million outlets in one of the 15 One Network countries. The One Network service is automatically activated upon crossing the geographical border into one of the countries, with no prior registration required or sign-up fee.