Motorola on Monday announced a contract worth $116 million with Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) to expand the telecom operator's network in Saudi Arabia. Under the deal, Saudi Arabia's northwest and southwest regions will benefit from enhanced GSM coverage and capacity. Mobily chiefs said the turnkey expansion will enable Mobily to increase its subscriber base within the Kingdom. “The demand for reliable communications services in the Kingdom is growing and the Mobily expansion project of our GSM network will help to meet the demands and expectations of new subscribers in the western north and southern north regions,” said Khalid Al-Kaf, CEO of Mobily.” Motorola has won a number of significant GSM network expansion contracts over the past few years. Mobily had a market share of about 40 percent by the end of the first quarter of 2008. Mobily also said it has extended its current prepaid offering recharge bonuses of up to 63 percent promotion to April 26. Under this promotional offer, the subscribers who recharge their prepaid lines with more than SR60 worth of credit can get extra calling credit that ranges from 25 percent to a generous 63 percent, and up to a limit of SR1000 in accumulated bonus credit. The job market in Saudi Arabia was least effected even when talks of layoffs due to the global economic crisis were widespread elsewhere in the world, according to high-ranking Saudi-based executives of multinational companies. Hamoud Al-Gobaini, corporate communications manager, Mobily, and Dr. Waleed Romman, country manager for Saudi Arabia, Motorolla Arabia Inc., said at a press conference at the signing of SR435 million GSM network expansion contract with Motorola, that the job market in Saudi Arabia was the least effected despite the global economic crisis. Al-Gobaini said in fact, Mobily in Saudi Arabia achieved 52 percent in its revenues and profits in 2008 as compared to 2007, when the world was already talking about economic recession. “Telecommunication was the least affected sector due to the world financial crisis,” he said, adding that the telecom sector would in fact generate economic growth by increased recruitments and awarding of contracts to companies for implementing civil work projects. He said Mobily recently launched a leadership program for its staff. Around 130 people were successfully graduated from the program that trained them to achieve future targets of company. “Even today when people are talking about job losses and layoffs, we never stopped the process of recruitment at Mobily. We have been continuing the recruitment in various job categories including sales, customer care, technical, engineering, operations and maintenance.”
