Representatives of Indosat, Nokia and the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women at the Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards 2013.
Some of Ooredoo’s leading companies and their partners won four recognitions at the Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards 2013, which were held in London, recently.
The awards demonstrate the company’s commitment to promoting human growth across its global footprint.
Indosat won the Wireless Network Infrastructure Innovation Award for connecting underserved rural communities and the Consumer Service Innovation Award for its mobile service Usaha Wanita, which empowers women entrepreneurs.
Tunisiana won the Consumer Service Innovation Award for its Najja7ni Employment service, which enhances employment prospects for Tunisian youth, and the Wireless Network Infrastructure Innovation Award for the rollout of the IP backhaul network and 3G network.
Both Indosat and Tunisiana are part of Ooredoo.
Dr Nasser Marafih, Group CEO of Ooredoo, said: “We are focused on the impact our service has on the lives of our customers and their communities. We believe that these awards demonstrate the power of partnering with local and global organisations to deliver scalable mobile services. Our customers can look forward to more life-enhancing mobile innovations in the coming months.”
Indosat and network solutions provider Altobridge overcame the barriers of cost, backhaul and power to deploy lightweight and solar-powered base sites as an in-house “rural solution to a rural problem”. As a result, Indosat has commercially delivered mobile connectivity to rural Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua Island, and plans to use the solution to connect more customers throughout the remote areas of Indonesia.
Indosat was the first operator in the world to offer Usaha Wanita (Business Women) and more than 8,000 women entrepreneurs in Indonesia have signed up for the service since its launch in December 2012. Usaha Wanita offers tips about business management, banking and credit access, customer management and marketing for small businesses.
Usaha Wanita was developed in partnership with Indosat, Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, ExxonMobil Foundation and Nokia Life. Usaha Wanita is also being used by Mercy Corps to give hands-on training to 2,000 women entrepreneurs in Indonesia.
Cherie Blair, founder of Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, said: “Supporting women entrepreneurs is one of the most important investments we can make and technology is one of the tools that can help us do that on a global scale.”
Tunisiana’s Najja7ni Employment service has seen 300,000 customers select the service. Developed in partnership with educational social network Edupartage and youth-focused social initiative Silatech, it provides youth with career guidance, financial literacy, career search strategies, links to local training opportunities and tips on how to start a business.
Najja7ni Employment uses engaging methods for customers to learn these topics, including quizzes, SMS alerts, coaching and psychometric tests, delivered via the mobile phone.
Meanwhile, Tunisiana and network solutions company Infovista have rolled out 3G to cover a majority of Tunisia’s population, providing the country’s leading network with the best end-to-end customer experience. Tunisiana plans to cover nearly the entire population with 3G by the end of 2013.
Stronger demand for the Ooredoo Passport service
Ooredoo has seen strong demand for the Ooredoo Passport service as customers book their summer holidays.
During the summer, Qatar’s diverse residents go on vacation to popular destinations and visit their home countries. The award-winning service offers great roaming rates and peace of mind for them.
With the service now available in more than 50 countries, including popular locations in the GCC, Middle East, Asia, Europe and North America, Ooredoo is seeing stronger demand than ever before.
Ooredoo Passport provides customers with great value on 100 calling minutes and 1GB of roaming data for QR100, valid for seven days from activation.
Customers can check the list of destinations covered on the Ooredoo Passport page of the company’s website, www.ooredoo.qa/en/op.
Customers can subscribe to Ooredoo Passport in the covered countries at any time. Shahry customers can send an SMS reading “OP” to 114, while Hala users can send an SMS reading “OP” to 121. Hala customers need a minimum credit balance of QR100 to use Ooredoo Passport.
In a new feature, Hala BlackBerry customers can roam with this money-saving service. Roaming on Hala Blackberry can be easily enabled by sending the message “BBR” to 121.
For customers on longer holidays, they can now renew Ooredoo Passport an unlimited number of times once their validity expires.
If customers use up their Ooredoo Passport allowance during the seven-day period, then they will be charged QR1 per 1MB of data and QR 1 per minute. Hala customers can check their remaining balance by dialling the shortcode *129*5# and Shahry users by sending “Bal op” to 114.
Indosat and Altobridge have won an award for installing custom-made base sites in rural Indonesia, providing students with mobile Internet access for the first time.
