Mobily: The Fastest Growing Mobile Operator in the Middle East

Eithad-Etisalat consortium is Saudi Arabia’s second telecommunications company. They won the bidding for Saudi’s second GSM license in 2004. It was the following year that they launched Mobily, the fastest growing mobile operator not just in the Middle East but also in North Africa.

It was through Mobily that they were able to break Saudi Telecom’s monopoly in the wireless business. On the 27^th of June of 2006, they were able to launch their 3.5G services and this was followed by the release of their 4G services in 2011.

Just a year after the business started operating,they were able to reach 4,800,000 subscribers and by 2007, they reached a staggering 6 million subscribers and .5 million in their 3G users. They have sales of roughly around $6.3 billion as a result of their aggressive and solid expansion strategy.

They were able to penetrate the Saudi market through direct and indirect sales channels. This resulted to them hitting their targets in 2006, in terms of both sales and revenue goals. Covering the majority of the population they have Mobily employees under their flagship branches, Fully Branded Outlets, Kiosks and dealers across the country.

The company is also noted as being the first to introduce a different push-to-talk service (PTT ) experience for its consumers. Instead of just having a “walkie-talkie” experience, they have lifted the distance issue as they are carrying the conversation through a mobile GSM network.

To further enhance their service, they have modified this feature to allow up to 10 people to join a group calling. They have made this service available to both their prepaid and postpaid subscribers at monthly fees.

It was the GSM Association who described the company as the fastest growing mobile operator in the Middle East through their GSM Association Newsletter in December 2004.