MNC Wireless與VODATEL合資進入中東市場

MNC Wireless enters the Middle East through JV with VODATEL

2nd October 2007 – MNC Wireless Berhad a leading Mobile Value-Added Services (VAS) Provider in Malaysia has officially joint forces with VODATEL Group of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) with the completion of the Shareholders’ Agreement signing today in a private ceremony held at VODATEL’s office in Riyadh.

The partnership is in the form of a Joint Venture (JV) company named, International Company for Mobile Services LLC (ICMS) to provide mobile VAS in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC), Middle East and North African Countries (MENA). VODATEL will own 70% with MNC owning the remaining shares of ICMS.

ICMS will have its operational head quarters in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where it will provide Mobile Value-Added Services (mobile VAS), which will include but is not limited to services such as mobile & wireless content, application & services creation, storage, provisioning, billing, messaging and delivery platform (s) and software (s). ICMS will utilise any relevant and prevailing mobile & wireless barrier and development technology such as GPRS (2.5G), 3G, 3.5G and beyond, Short Messaging Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS, xHTLM, HTML, JAVA, C++, etc to develop and deliver its services to operators, enterprise customers and end consumers in KSA, GCC & MENA countries.

“A partnership with the VODATEL Group allows MNC to tap into a region with high mobile and 3G adoption and high ARPUs (Business Monitor International reported the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) of US$35 per mobile user in its May 2007 Report)”, said Ms. Jasmine Lee, Chief Executive Officer of MNC Wireless Berhad (MNC). She further adds that, “There is also high demand for mobile VAS that includes rich mobile content, mobile billing gateway and mobile platform just to name a few. MNC will bring its expertise in mobile VAS by deploying and implementing its successful products and business model(s) into the region.”

Business Monitor International (BMI) forecasts the number of mobile subscribers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to hit 23.8 million or 97.8% penetration at the end of 2007. The Saudi Arabian market is a largely untapped market for mobile services with most services provided directly by the incumbent operator Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC). With Mobily entering the market in 2004 and Kuwait’s MTC entering in 2008; the landscape for new mobile services will be more exciting. In addition, the Saudi Arabian population also accounts for more than 68% of the total population amongst the 6 (six) GCC countries which also includes United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. As such, KSA is the most profitable market to start business operations and expand to the rest of the region from there.

“VODATEL is an established name in our country with strong track records, market base and management team. VODATEL is a telecommunications services provider with offices in most of the major cities in KSA, GCC and MENA. We have state-of-the-art telecommunications equipments, networks and products, with new initiatives continuously launched”, said the Vice President of VODATEL, Mr. Osman Oueida.

“We believe that with this partnership with MNC, we will be able to complete our company’s overall offering to provide complete telecommunications solutions from network planning and provisioning to data centre hosting and management to operator retail management just to name a few. We are clearly aware of the high demand for mobile VAS in KSA and the Middle East region, and we believe that the partnership with MNC can surely drive this business in this region”, added Mr. Osman.

As for MNC, Ms. Lee added, “With the conclusion of this corporate exercise, we are moving a step closer to realizing our objective which is to bring more value to our shareholders.”