Etihad Etisalat Mobily launched new package dubbed Mada

Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) Saturday launched an innovative postpaid package that combines the benefits of fixed-line telephony competitive rates and convenience of mobile communication, and set another regional benchmark by becoming the first Saudi and Gulf Cooperation Council telecom operator to offer a package based on home-zone billing technology.

The new package dubbed “Mada” (which means ‘range’ in Arabic) is based on home-zone billing, whereby customers enjoy a competitive rate, whenever they are in a certain geographical area of their choice.

“We will continue to introduce new innovative services to the Saudi market. Home-zone billing allows customers to enjoy the benefits of more competitive rates on fixed-line calling without being tethered to their homes or offices,” said Khalid Al Kaf, Mobily’s Chief Executive Officer.
“We introduced this new package to prove again to the market that he who owns the last mile to the customer does not own the customer,” added Al Kaf, “customers today have more freedom and choice with this new package.”

In practice, this means that all customers need to do once they signup from a new line or migrate from an existing Mobily package or from another operator, is set a certain area where they spend the majority of their day as their home-zone so as to benefit from the competitive rate.

Calls made inside the home-zone area are charged at SAR 0.20 per minute for calls made to other Mobily subscribers or fixed-line customers. Similar to Khatty Plus, calls made outside the home-zone or to other mobile networks are charged according to a flat-rate tariff of SAR 0.30 per minute to all national destinations. Subscribers can also assign one international as their favorite number and enjoy the associated discount.

Once Mobily Mada subscribers set their home-zone, any calls made to other Mobily customers and fixed-line subscribers within a radius of half a kilometer to a few kilometers will be charged a flat rate of SAR 0.20/minute.

The home-zone area can be set anywhere, at home, at the office, a café or a mall.

Customers roaming around in their or close to their home-zone area can check whether they have left the home-zone area or not by dialing *1100# or calling 1100 for free.

The technology itself triangulates a customer’s home-zone area by taking bearings from a series of base stations. Among other services from Mobily based on this technology are “Friend Finder” and “Mobile Map.”

Nov 1, 2007