Telecommunication giant Zain yesterday achieved another first by launching its groundbreaking and borderless "One Network" mobile service in four Middle East countries.

The launch ceremony was held simultaneously in Bahrain, the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, Baghdad and the Jordanian capital city of Amman. It enables, with immediate effect, Zain subscribers in these four countries to be on the 'local' network.

"This service allows Zain's 14 million customers in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan and Sudan to be part of a pan Middle East mobile community, providing them the opportunity to communicate between these countries and be treated as local customers in terms of pricing, while using their home network service," said Zain Bahrain chief executive officer and general manager Dr Ahmed Al Shatti.

He was addressing a Press conference to commemorate the Bahrain launch at the Ritz Carlton Bahrain Hotel and Spa.

"We shall soon extend this service to other countries across the Middle East where we have operations and even beyond, depending on when we can find partners," he said.

"The day is not far when a large part of the world could be a part of the service, which would eliminate global roaming."

He said the user friendly service is a non-burdening experience and is automatically activated when Zain customers from the four countries cross borders, thus enabling them to stay in touch with friends, colleagues and family members at a reduced cost.

"This is a defining moment in the history of the Middle East and global telecommunications and a major step forward in our intent to become one of the top 10 global mobile operators by 2011."

He said the launch helps fulfill Zain's promise to deliver to its customers a unique and rewarding Zain brand experience through the products and services it offers.

"As well as allowing Zain's pre-paid and post-paid customers to make calls and SMS at local rates and receive incoming calls free-of-charge, the service enables them to top-up their mobile phone credits with locally purchased scratch cards, which are widely available in more than 200,000 points of sales."

He said there is no need for pre-registration, no extra fees, no roaming deposits and no complicated dialing formats.

He said Zain customers will continue to have access to all of their home country services (voicemail, customer care and SMS content etc) no matter which One Network country they are in. "

They can make free calls to their customer care service via home network short codes and these will be routed to their home network call centre where they can speak to a service agent in their own dialect."

Originally launched by the Zain Group on the African continent through its fully owned subsidiary Celtel, One Network comes to the Middle East at a time when economic and commercial growth has never been greater.

"As trans-border travel and commerce continues to grow, mobile customers within the One Network countries will appreciate the many tangible benefits of the service stimulating economic growth and productivity like never before."

He said this has been made possible with the co-operation and support he company has received from the many telecoms regulatory and ministerial bodies within the One Network countries.

"They have demonstrated understanding, foresight and a willingness to work with us to bring this service - and its many personal and commercial benefits - to the people of the Middle East." -TradeArabia News Service