Zain Group announced that it has invested $750 million in network expansion and 4G / 5G upgrades including fiber (FTTH) rollout and spectrum fees in several key telecom markets in the Middle East in 2018.
Zain Group CEO Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi and Zain chief technology officer (CTO) Hisham Allam, as part of the top management team, are driving the technology focused investment to ensure better customer experience.
Zain, which announced the financial results for 2018, did not reveal the company’s target for Capex in 2019. Investment in 4G and 5G will continue to be a strong focus area for Zain in the coming years.
Zain Group CEO Bader Al-Kharafi said: “Initiatives such as optimizing the synergies between the Group, Omantel and all operations, investments in fiber and network upgrades and opening up of our APIs across key markets are geared towards making us a more agile operator.”
Zain Kuwait, as part of its 5G roadmap, has earlier launched BEAM, the advanced wireless broadband technology, offering speeds that match fiber optics at 40 Mbps; the first telco to offer this revolutionary technology in Kuwait.
Zain Kuwaits chief technology officer Nawaf Al Gharabally in June 2018 announced the launch of the first integrated 5G technology on its network in Kuwait.
“Zain will continue developing and expanding the 5G network gradually across Kuwait until the devices are available, expected during the course of 2019,” Nawaf Al Gharabally said.
Zain Group, a mobile telecom innovator in eight markets across the Middle East and Africa, has achieved 5 percent increase in subscriber base to 49 million in 2018.
Zain reported revenue of $4.4 billion (+28 percent), EBITDA of $1.7 billion (+25 percent), EBITDA margin of 39 percent and net income of $649 million in 2018.
Zain posted revenues of $1.4 billion (+57 percent), EBITDA of $642 million, EBITDA margin of 47 percent and net income of $196 million in Q4 2018.
Zain Group data revenues (excluding SMS and VAS) experienced a 71 percent growth for the full-year 2018, representing 33 percent of the Group’s total revenues.
Baburajan K
