In what is seen as a major milestone for a Qatari company, Ooredoo has announced that its customer base exceeded 100mn across its footprint in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia.
Ooredoo achieved this milestone in Q4, 2014 according to figures released yesterday, following a year that saw the company grow its customer base in key markets like Qatar, Algeria and Oman, as well as launch operations in new markets like Myanmar.
Ooredoo Group chairman HE Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani said, “Ooredoo has always had a clear vision for growth, supported by our prudent investment and development strategy. Reaching this milestone of 100mn customers reminds us how far we have travelled over the past decade, and reinforces the incredible impact that Ooredoo services are having around the world.”
Ooredoo operates in markets with an “addressable population” of more than 700mn people, and sees strong potential for growth across its footprint.
Its newest market Myanmar has a population of around 53mn people and a relatively low mobile penetration rate of 27%, according to its the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology. Within its first month of commercial operations in 2014, Ooredoo reached more than 1mn customers in the country.
Ooredoo also achieved key milestones in a number of its core markets in 2014, growing its customer base in Qatar to more than 3mn and reaching more than 3.5mn 3G customers in Algeria within one year of the launch of 3G services.
Ooredoo is showcasing a range of smart technologies – including smart education, smart city and M2M solutions – at the Ooredoo pavilion at Mobile World Congress this week in Barcelona, in addition to highlighting some of its activities that support human growth across its footprint.
“We are confident that Ooredoo’s investment in these solutions, as well as bigger, faster networks across our global footprint, will enable the company to sustain its on-going growth and better serve its customers,” Sheikh Abdulla added.