Roaming services on aircrafts

Second ZAIN subsidiary to take the leap
Beirut, April 10th, 2008: mtc touch, the pioneer of mobile telecom in Lebanon, has lived up to its name by launching the new “Roaming on aircrafts” service, making it amongst the first mobile companies in the region to provide this revolutionary service that allows mtc touch customers - to make and receive calls as well as to send and receive sms while traveling on board of aircrafts.

The launch comes in line with the direction of mtc touch’s parent company “Zain” that initiated the service in collaboration with AeroMobile in March of this year in Jordan. The innovative in-flight service was successfully tested by Zain Jordan customers on board of a Dubai-Casablanca flight. Further operations within Zain group, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria will soon be providing the same services on airplanes.

Commenting on the launch, Claude Bassil, General Manager of mtc touch said: The “Roaming on aircrafts” service is a major achievement in the field of Information and Communication Technology and mtc touch prides itself on being the first mobile telecommunication company in Lebanon - and amongst the first in the world - to provide this cutting-edge service.” Bassil added that “by introducing roaming on aircrafts, mtc touch conveys to Lebanon an advanced strategic and technological dimension as one of the very few countries in the world to offer this state of the art service”.

At this stage, mtc touch has started providing the “Roaming on aircrafts” service, in collaboration with AeroMobile, to its customers traveling on board of some Emirates Airlines planes in Beirut. At a later stage, other airlines signing similar agreements with AeroMobile would be able to offer this added-value service to their passengers.

AeroMobile chief executive Bjorn-Taale Sandberg said: “We are delighted to see mtc touch joining AeroMobile in allowing passengers to stay in touch when they fly". He added: "We believe that the ability for passengers to communicate efficiently, easily and safely during flights will soon become an every-day feature of business and leisure travel". Bassil concluded: “Modern technology offers us the opportunity to deliver unique, efficient and useful services, and we believe that it is our duty, as a telecom provider, to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies in the telecom sector, to facilitate our customers’ lives and to boost the mobile telecom sector in Lebanon".