(Amman, March, 2007): GSM operator MobileCom, a member of the Jordan Telecom Group, announced during a media round table held at its headquarters that its customer base has hit 1.5 million subscribers.

The meeting which was headed by Vice President of Jordan Telecom Group and MobileCom CEO Majd Shweikeh and attended by the Jordan Telecom Group CEO Mickael Ghossein, shed the light on the GSM provider’s major achievements for the past year, various offers, and future plans.

“The year 2006 was an exciting year for the Group by all means as we moved to become an integrated operator, an approach that strengthened the leading position we enjoy in this highly competitive market scene. We are very proud of our collection of achievements, which truly reflects a bright image of the local communications sector and our dedication to achieving His Majesty King Abdullah II’s vision in making Jordan a regional ICT hub,” Mickael Ghossein, Jordan Telecom Group CEO said.

“MobileCom’s persistent attention to quality has substantially paid-off, as we see more people choosing MobileCom as their preferred Jordanian GSM operator. We see a bright future ahead of us, one that promises the delivery of smart communications services that will further enrich the lives of the Jordanian community. MobileCom will diligently build on its success and growth to constantly cope with the fast changes in the global telecom scene as the company has proved to be the fastest growing mobile network in the local market,” commented Majd Shweikeh, Vice President of Jordan Telecom Group and CEO of MobileCom.

According to a recent study posted by the independent research company Arab Advisors Group, MobileCom is the fastest growing GSM operator in Jordan. The company witnessed a substantial growth during 2006 acquiring 32% of the total market share compared to 24% in 2005. Shweikeh attributed this substantial share growth to the trust that MobileCom’s customers constantly place in the company.

MobileCom’s financial results came impressive with JOD 140 million in revenue, achieving a 21% growth in revenue and growth on Gross Operating Margin of more than 37%,

Jordan Telecom Group invested a substantial sum of money to upgrade its mobile business unit’s network during 2006, amounting to 28MJOD. “MobileCom’s total investment in its network and other fixed assets since its inception has accumulated to JD183 million, which truly reflects the company’s interest to maintain its leading network quality,” Majd commented.

MobileCom had a very active and successful year, celebrating its one million customer milestone only last June in a record breaking achievement, coinciding with the re-launch of the newly structured pay-monthly “Club” offer, which furnished subscribers with far more flexibility with a flat price per minute at all times and to all local networks in addition to providing lower prices with an average drop of 16% off the old tariffs.

Furthermore, the Pay-As-You-Go offers earlier last year were restructured and merged into two very distinctive and simplified offers called; the “7” offer and the “Youth” offer making them more attractive for customers who now can now benefit from a tariff as low as one piaster a minute with up to one year validity, offering customers greater flexibility and reassurance about the costs being incurred when making calls, in addition to many other advantages and benefits, that directly, positively, and immediately impact the subscribers.

The Jordanian GSM operator also introduced a new service for its residential and corporate Pay-As-You-Go customers, offering them a new alternative hassle-free means of recharging their Pay-As-You-Go account electronically, directly from all MobileCom centers, authorized distributors, Jordan Telecom Group centers and specific points of sale, without the need to purchase a physical scratch card.

Moreover, MobileCom ventured into delivering tailor-made solutions to customers such as the UNIZONE service, which was introduced to Pay-As-You-Go Youth offer subscribers to benefit from reduced tariff of 2 piasters per minute night and day on all on-net outgoing calls originated from campuses of designated Jordanian universities.

Additionally, and as the sole and designated GSM partner for the Jordanian Armed Forces and security sectors, the company modified its offers, allowing more flexibility to meet their specific mobile communication requirements.

Benefiting from the integration that unites the Jordan Telecom Group companies, MobileCom launched its “Family Talk” service last year, another innovative convergent service that provides unlimited multidirectional talk ability between mobile and fixed lines, with one fixed line and up-to four pay-monthly residential mobile lines. 

Special attention was paid to value added services, based on the market’s yearn and demand for such, as the company presented leading services namely; e-payment solutions, Push E-mail (a service that links mobile phones directly with corporate e-mail applications), Stock Exchange, Dandanah, missed call alert (CLI+), GPRS bundles, Video Tones  as well as many other services.

MobileCom underlined its capability and high level of performance when its quality management system was successfully audited and obtained the certification in accordance with ISO 9001:2000 requirements earlier in March 2007.

Looking ahead towards the future, MobileCom currently allocated an amount of JD2 million to invest in its; Human Resources and uplift information technology tools and software related to its Customer Care Center. The CEO said that this shows the company's high level of awareness and constitution on the importance of empowering these areas. 

MobileCom will also be focusing on offering yet more innovative value added services such as the recently launched “Your SMS on Me” service, where customers can stay in touch with their friends and beloved ones, even if they were out-of credit, by paying for their messages, as well as Flash SMS, state of the art Gaming, etc…

Blackberry is another service that is currently in the final testing phase and will be launched soon, giving customers a secure wireless access to their e-mail, Internet, agenda, and individual data applications.

"MobileCom is well prepared to face the future challenges that are part of the fast moving telecommunications sector. We are keen on continuously providing the latest solutions as our subscribers have become accustomed to, that will combine quality and competitive tariffs, suitable for all the different market segments,” concluded Shweikeh.