Zain Sudan

Last updated
Zain Sudan
FormerlyMobitel (1996-2007)

Zain Sudan (formerly Mobitel) is a mobile phone operator in Sudan, and part of the Zain Group. Formed in 1996, a large portion of the network split in 2011 to Zain South Sudan.

Contents

Zain Sudan: Launch & Establishment

Zain Sudan (formerly Mobitel) started towards the end of 1996, as the first mobile phone operator in Sudan. Launched its commercial activities in February 1997, starting with Greater Khartoum with a GSM network, turning Sudan into the fourth country to launch mobile services in North Africa. It was established as a joint-stock company with the shares divided between Sudan Telecommunications Company Ltd. (Sudatel) and several other shareholders including Celtel, until 2006 when it was fully acquired by the Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) as part of its strategy; to transform from a local to a regional, then a global telecom entity. Following the acquisition, Zain consolidated its position in the Middle East and Africa, becoming the leading mobile telephone operator in Sudan.[ citation needed ]

On September 9, 2007, Mobitel rebranded to Zain together with the other companies in the Group in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan. Zain then became the brand name of the group's companies in Africa and the Middle East, operating in Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon (MTC Touch), and Sudan.[ citation needed ]

Today, Zain Sudan have over 11 million active subscribers (as of January 2014) and coverage reach to more than 90% of Sudan's population.[ citation needed ]

Zain provides 2G, 3G and 4G mobile phone services under the license granted to it by the National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC) in accordance with telecommunications act 2001.

Zain also pursues a policy of recruitment for Sudanese employees and workers in all its functions, in addition to providing opportunities for individuals with disabilities.[ citation needed ]

Network launch & growth

In 1996 15 Zain installed the first 10 Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), covering “Dar Elhatif”, Burry, Bahri, Shambat, Omdurman, Almahdia, Khartoum South's new extension, the General Command and Abo Haraz.

By the end of 1997, Wad Madani and Port Sudan, in addition to other cities and states, joined the Sudanese Mobile Telephone Network, through optical fiber cables. The years 1998-1999 it covered numerous cities; towns and villages in almost every state in the Country.

Over the years, the growing number of Zain stations increased coverage nationally in addition to updating the network technologies. The data communication services were then introduced which required updating and replacing the devices and equipment used.

The capacity of the main network then exceeded 11 million subscribers.

South Sudan’s Network Separation

It is often and for different reasons that telecom networks merge. But it was the first time in the history of the telecom industry worldwide for a network to split its operations. As a result of South Sudan's succession, Zain had to face the challenge of separating its network into two independent networks.

Efforts to separate South Sudan's network and arrangements for a new network infrastructure began in 2010, where an urgent need to prepare the Data and Switch and Centers appeared. The centers were complete and ready by 2011.

A proposal for the network separation which covered 90% of the populated areas was prepared since January 2011. The objective was to build an independent network from Sudan's with the most advanced Billing and VAS systems. This was completed before September 1 which was the date marked for the separation. The network separation was completed immediately after the independence of South Sudan.

South Sudanese engineers in addition to other staff had been trained to manage the Zain South Sudan network which was the first independent network in comparison to others. Thanks to the early and careful planning, the network was established with the world's most advanced 3G technology and covered South Sudan's largest cities including Juba, Wau and Malakal. The network was also extended to other populated cities and SIM Cards were changed to bear the new name, Zain- South Sudan.

Zain was the first company to use the new numbers after migration to the new country code together with the new Zain- South Sudan SIM Cards in the newly born nation. A technical plan was also prepared to ensure the continuity of the service even when using the new numbers.

In addition, roaming subscribers in South Sudan were able to use the Zain- South Sudan network at a time when other networks were facing difficulties in accommodating roaming subscribers.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

Telecommunications in Burkina Faso include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.

Telecommunications in Saudi Arabia have evolved early in the Kingdom since the establishment the Directorate of Post, Telephone and Telegraph (PTT) in 1926.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SK Telecom</span> South Korean telecommunications company

SK Telecom Co., Ltd. is a South Korean wireless telecommunications operator and former film distributor and is part of the SK Group, one of the country's largest chaebols. It leads the local market with 50.5 percent share as of 2008. SK Telecom is the largest wireless carrier in South Korea, with 27.019 million subscribers as of Q4 2017.

Emirates Telecommunications Group Company PJSC, doing business as etisalat by e& is an Emirati-based multinational telecommunications services provider, currently operating in 16 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. It is the 18th largest mobile network operator in the world by number of subscribers. In December 2020, etisalat claimed to provide the world’s fastest 5G download speed at 9.1 Gigabits per second, a network which it has started rolling out in Dubai since 2017. Etisalat is one of the strongest brand in the Middle East and Africa, and one of the strongest telecoms brand in the world.

Celtel was a telecommunications company that operated in several African countries. It was founded by Sudanese-born Mo Ibrahim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobitel (Slovenia)</span>

Mobitel was a Slovenian GSM/UMTS/LTE mobile operator. The company merged with Telekom Slovenije in 2013.

Zain Jordan is part of the Zain Group currently serving over 32 million active customers across the Middle East and Africa. Effective September 8, 2007, Zain is the new corporate master brand name for the Group, the leading mobile telecommunications provider in the Middle East and Africa. The Group now operates under the Zain brand in Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain and Sudan. In Iraq, it is currently known as mtc-atheer; in Lebanon, as mtc-touch; and in 14 sub-Saharan countries in Africa as Celtel: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Umniah</span>

Umniah is a Jordanian mobile network operator. A subsidiary of Bahrain-based Batelco, it is the third and most recent GSM cellular phone company to enter the Jordanian telecom market. As of 2014 Umniah has a 30 percent share of the mobile telecommunications market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SLTMobitel</span> Sri Lankan telecom company

Sri Lanka Telecom PLC, doing business as SLT-MOBITEL, is the national telecommunications services provider in Sri Lanka and one of the country's largest companies with an annual turnover in excess of Rs 40 billion. The company provides domestic and corporate services which include fixed and wireless telephony, Internet access and IT services to domestic, public and business sector customers. As of 2018 SLT-MOBITEL was Sri Lanka's second largest mobile network operator with over 7.9 million subscribers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mo Ibrahim</span> Sudanese-British businessman (born 1946)

Sir Mohammed Fathi Ahmed Ibrahim is a Sudanese-British billionaire businessman. He worked for several telecommunications companies, before founding Celtel, which when sold had over 24 million mobile phone subscribers in 14 African countries. After selling Celtel in 2005 for $3.4 billion, he set up the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to encourage better governance in Africa, as well as creating the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, to evaluate nations' performance. He is also a member of the Africa regional advisory board of London Business School.

Mobile Telecommunications Company K.S.C.P., is a Kuwaiti mobile telecommunications company founded in 1983 in Kuwait as MTC, and later rebranded as Zain in 2007. Zain has a commercial presence in seven countries across the Middle East with 49.5 million active customers as of 31 December 2019. The Vice Chairman and Group CEO is Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi, who was appointed in March 2017. Approximately 24.6% of the company is owned by Kuwait Investment Authority; 21.9% is owned by Omantel; only shareholders that own above 5% are disclosed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vodacom Tanzania</span>

Vodacom Tanzania Limited is Tanzania's leading cellular network company. As of December 2020, Vodacom Tanzania had over 15.6 million customers and was the largest wireless telecommunications network in Tanzania. Vodacom Tanzania is the second telecom company in Africa, after Vodacom, to switch on its 3G High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) which was available only in Dar Es Salaam in early 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airtel Tanzania</span>

Airtel Tanzania Limited is the third-largest mobile network operator in Tanzania operated by Airtel Africa, which is a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel of India, behind Vodacom Tanzania and Tigo Tanzania. As of September 2017, Airtel Tanzania had 10.6 million voice subscribers. As of December 2017 according to data provided by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority, Airtel Tanzania controlled 27.1 percent of Tanzania's mobile telephone market by customer numbers, at that time estimated at 10.86 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation</span>

Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation, formerly Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL), is the oldest and largest fixed line telecommunications company in Tanzania. The company comes forth from the former Tanzania Posts and Telecommunications Corporation in 1993. TTCL was wholly owned by the Government of Tanzania until the partial privatisation of the company on 23 February 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zain Saudi Arabia</span> Saudi Arabian telecommunication company

Mobile Telecommunication Company Saudi Arabia is a telecommunications services company that offers fixed line, mobile telephony, and Internet services under the brand name Zain Saudi Arabia. Zain was the third mobile network operator in Saudi Arabia. It was launched on 26 August 2008 and it enrolled more than 2 million subscribers within 4 months of its launch.

3G mobile telephony was relatively slow to be adopted globally. In some instances, 3G networks do not use the same radio frequencies as 2G so mobile operators must build entirely new networks and license entirely new frequencies, especially so to achieve high data transmission rates. Other delays were due to the expenses of upgrading transmission hardware, especially for UMTS, whose deployment required the replacement of most broadcast towers. Due to these issues and difficulties with deployment, many carriers delayed acquisition of these updated capabilities.

Zain South Sudan is a mobile communications and information technology services provider in South Sudan. Zain South Sudan is a subsidiary of the Zain Group, a telecommunications multinational, active in eight middle eastern and north African countries, serving an estimated 48.3 million customers, as of 30 June 2021.

References