Zain Malawi commissions fourth “media gate way”

Zain Malawi, formerly known as Celtel Malawi and the country\’s mobile phone service provider, on Monday commissioned its fourth Media Gate Way (MGW) to improve delivery of Zain’s international call service, comprising two options of One Network and Roaming in the commercial city of Blantyre as a part of the company’s current network expansion and upgrading exercise.

An MGW is a network tower that acts as a translation unit between different telecommunication systems, according to Zain Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Africa, Chris Gabriel.

Gabriel said the development underlined the Middle East and Africa telecoms giant’s commitment of becoming a top 10 global mobile company by 2011 with a subscription base of over a 100 million people on its vast network.

“We are investing substantially in network expansion and upgrades across Africa because we want to give our customers the best and modern telecoms service available worldwide. We want all our customers to enjoy the wonderful world of Zain by giving them state-of-the-art and world class service and products,” he said.

He said network upgrade and expansion are high on the agenda of Zain, which has recently rebranded all its 14 operations in Africa to create one strong brand linking Africa and the Middle East.

“We have recently rebranded as Zain and are on course to creating a powerful brand to reckon with in the world of telecommunication,” he said.

Zain Malawi Managing Director Fayaz King reiterated that, despite the congestion being experienced now, Zain customers should expect a clearer signal in a few weeks time as a result of the current upgrading and reintegration to a new hardware and software platform by experts from Sweden, Germany and Japan.

Zain is spending US$30 million for the current exercise being undertaken by foreign telecoms engineers from Siemens, Nokia and National Electric Company.

By the end of 2009, Zain Malawi would have spent an additional US$90 million towards expanding and upgrading its network to ensure it covers every part and corner of Malawi.

“At Zain, we believe that what one sows, that one day he will reap. The investment we are making in these upgrades will benefit our customers in the long-term,” he said.