Leading telecommunications operator Ooredoo is showcasing its achievements last year at the Mobile World Congress that kicked off in Barcelona, Spain today (March 2).

The year was a ground-breaking year for Ooredoo, with more operations across its footprint adopting the new brand (which was originally launched at the same congress in 2013, a major focus on data and digital services, and the company working hard to live up to its vision of enriching people's lives, said a statement.

The company has emerged as a leader in data and digital lifestyle services over the past year, with data reaching 22 per cent of total Ooredoo revenue in the third quarter, and revenue from mobile content increasing by 19 per cent in the same period.

In all, some 25 per cent of Ooredoo customers are now using mobile content, it said.

Dr Nasser Marafih, group chief executive officer, said: "Ooredoo is a leader in digital services in emerging markets, and we believe that our services are transforming people's lives. More than a quarter of our customers now use smartphones, reflecting the transformation that has taken place in lifestyles in the Mena region and Southeast Asia in recent years.

“We are going to build on our number one position in markets like Qatar, Algeria and Iraq to bring in the next generation of data services and make these available for everyone."

To ensure the best quality of connection and mobile surfing speeds for its customers, Ooredoo has launched several new network enhancements last year, including a state-of-the-art 4G+ network in Qatar, making Ooredoo's home country one of a handful of nations in the world to have the fastest mobile Internet service available.

Ooredoo's Indosat launched Indonesia's fastest 4G-LTE service in 2014. The operator also enhanced 4G services in Kuwait, Maldives and Oman during the year.

The company also saw significant success with 3G services, reaching the milestone of 3.5 million 3G customers in Algeria within the first year of its 3G launch, and also seeing Asiacell, Ooredoo's company in Iraq, offering 3G services in January this year within one month of receiving its license.

In Myanmar, Ooredoo launched commercially with 3G services in a world-first, and saw unprecedented demand, reaching its millionth customer in less than three weeks from launch.

In all, 80 percent of Ooredoo customers in Myanmar use smartphones - a record for smartphone penetration in an emerging market.

Ooredoo was also successful in rolling out the Ooredoo brand last year. With the launch of the brand in Kuwait in April and Oman in November, the global brand of Ooredoo is now present in seven markets: Qatar, Algeria, the Maldives, Tunisia, Myanmar, Kuwait and Oman.

Meanwhile, Ooredoo has taken major strides in business services during the year, having generated more than $1 billion revenue from business-to-business (B2B) services, with nine-month year-on-year growth close to 10 per cent.

In Iraq, Asiacell has significantly expanded its B2B sales force and won new customers by creating solutions, such as customised Closed User Groups.

In Indonesia, Indosat is building dedicated channels to meet the unique needs of business customers. For a country that has about 55 million small, medium and micro businesses, segmented direct, indirect and retail channel experience is critical to address all types of businesses

The Group is set to launch a cloud-based machine-to-machine (M2M) platform this year, which will enable Ooredoo to reduce the time-to-market when building industry-specific 'Internet of things' solutions.

The company is also working with partners to develop a host of so-called ‘smart services,’ including smart infrastructure, smart entertainment, connected cars, next generation education, health and workplace solutions, and ‘smart city’ municipality services management, intelligent transport and smart stadiums. - TradeArabia News Service