16/11/2015
16/11/2015
KUWAIT CITY, Nov 15: Ooredoo enjoyed incredible success at the CommsMEAAwards in Dubai last week, winning a total of four top prizes, including the highest honour, “Overall Operator of the Year” for Ooredoo Group, and a new category, the “Network Optimization Award” for Ooredoo Qatar’s inspiring initiative to enhance the Ooredoo Supernet.
In addition, Ooredoo Oman took home the “Middle East Mobile Operator of the Year,” while its Ooredoo Qatar received a second award, “Converged Service Provider of the Year.” With four wins out of a total 14 categories, following 12 nominations, Ooredoo secured its best-ever night at the annual CommsMEA Awards, which is one of the telecoms industry’s leading events. Youssef Al-Shalal, Senior Manager, CSR, Sponsorships and Social Media and Sara Al Qabandi, CSR Specialist, were presenting Ooredoo Kuwait at the awards ceremony which took place in Dubai last week.
Sheikh Saud Bin Nasser Al Thani, Group CEO, Ooredoo, said: “Our strategy at Ooredoo is to build a leadership position in every market that we serve, and winning these awards validates our pioneering approach. The whole Ooredoo family is working hard to support customers’ digital lifestyles, drive data development and deliver the best networks for all our customers. We dedicate these awards to their on-going efforts.”
Ooredoo received the “Overall Operator of the Year” award following a remarkable year that has seen the company grow its customer base to nearly 115 million people across the Middle East, North Africa and South East Asia. Ooredoo has also been very successful in driving data services across its markets as part of its future-facing strategy. Data revenue now represents 35 percent of Ooredoo’s total revenue, a new record for the company, and the company holds data leadership positions across a wide range of markets, including Qatar, Iraq, Algeria, and the Maldives.
Ooredoo Oman has also seen a very strong year, increasing customer numbers by 10 percent to 2.8 million in its last financial results (9M 2015), and taking a lead in network performance, most recently acquiring new spectrum frequency (LTE 800) to provide improved 4G coverage and additional capacity. For Ooredoo Qatar, winning the inaugural “Network Optimization” award is an important testimony to the strength, speed and resilience of the Ooredoo Supernet, which the company has continued to upgrade throughout 2015.
Ooredoo now has more than 1,030 4G and 4G+ sites in Qatar and adds more every month, as it aims to make Qatar the best-connected country in the world. The strength of Ooredoo Qatar’s work in this area was reinforced by its second award, “Converged Service Provider of the Year,” which recognised Ooredoo as offering the best converged service for its Next Generation Mozaic TV service, supported by Ooredoo Fibre.
Ooredoo is shortly set to complete phase three of the nationwide Ooredoo Fibre roll-out, which will make Qatar in the top five nations in terms of fibre penetration world-wide. Ooredoo’s success at the CommsMEA Awards capped a remarkable week for the company, which saw its Ooredoo Global Services wholesale arm win “Best Middle Eastern Wholesale Carrier” at the Global Carrier Awards in Paris and Ooredoo Qatar take home the award for “Telecoms Innovator” at the 2015 Qatar Enterprise Agility Awards: Entrepreneur of the Year.