Kuwait’s Zain Group and Oman’s Omantel have launched a new joint venture.
Branded as Zain Omantel International (ZOI), the JV will act as a global wholesale services provider that the partners claim will revolutionise the sector “by offering a unique proposition that combines the strengths of both parties to deliver unparalleled service and support to customers worldwide.”
The joint venture will cater to the end-to-end telecommunications needs of operators in the Middle East, as well as international carriers, data centres, hyperscalers, content, and cloud providers seeking services within the region and globally. ZOI will leverage Zain’s presence and expertise in the retail and digital sectors across the region, as well as Omantel’s wholesale capabilities and comprehensive international subsea and terrestrial networks.
ZOI will manage the international wholesale requirements of Zain and Omantel operations across eight countries, serving over 55 million customers. This will allow the partners to optimise their wholesale businesses, as the unit’s access to state-of-the-art low-latency and high-capacity services will reduce operating costs and therefore boost competitiveness.
The venture is set to undertake a number of projects alongside its consortium partners, including the development of Blue-Raman; Africa-1; Jeddah to Marseille (J2M) subsea systems and an extensive terrestrial network connecting most of the regional countries to the landing stations and data centres.
The unit will be headed up by Sohail Qadir, fresh off a 13-year tenure as VP of Wholesale at Omantel. Qadir said: “The region has matured in terms of the scope and consumption of reliable wholesale services, and this strategic partnership in this integral part of the telecommunications business is well-timed to capitalise on global trends.”
