Zain

January

Introduction of a revolutionary groupwide HR policy embracing working mothers, which extends maternity leave period to four months, with flexible hours thereafter till child reaches age of four

Zain Saudi Arabia enters MoU with Alibaba Cloud, the cloud-computing arm of Alibaba Group, to promote private cloud computing for businesses in the Kingdom

Six talented Kuwaiti graduates enter fourth edition of the ‘Generation Z’ program, guided by themes of Empowerment, Digital Transformation, Corporate Culture and Sustainability

February

Publication of thought leadership report entitled “Social Innovation: The Fusion of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and a New Generational Mindset”

March

Strategic agreement between Zain Saudi Arabia and DETASAD, an ICT powerhouse in enhancing, developing and growing cloud and managed services across the Kingdom

Partnering Women in Data Science (WiDS) Conferences in Kuwait and Lebanon seeking to inspire and educate global and regional data scientists, regardless of gender, and to support Arab women in the field

April

touch, managed by Zain, partners 12th edition of MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab startup competition with final ceremony held in Lebanon

Launch of Zain Drone services in KSA during the Saudi Arabia Drone Summit, marking the first step to expanding Zain Drone’s presence across the region

May

Zain first to offer 5G technology in Kuwait and GCC

Publication of eighth annual sustainability report, titled ‘Time to Act’, a call-to-action to corporates, governments, and individuals to pull together to address key global challenges

Zain Bahrain collaborates with Alkeri Partners to launch a new initiative ‘Zainnovate’, supporting startups and the SME sector, developing an entrepreneurial environment in the Kingdom

June

Zain Kuwait pioneers 5G technology, first operator in GCC to offer 5G packages on router devices, promoting an environment for digital innovation in support of the nation’s Vision 2035

Neom Bay Airport becomes the first in the region to offer 5G services, with speeds of 1,000 Mbps. Powered by Zain KSA, which also placed the first 5G phone call in the region

July

Zain first telecom in Kuwait and third in region to receive M&O Data Center Certification from Uptime Institute in recognition of its leadership and commitment in adopting the highest international standards in its data center for corporate customers.

Zain Group launches the ‘WE ABLE’ initiative, aiming to be Disability Inclusive by 2022 and provide more jobs and training for people with special needs. The company also signed up to the International Labor Organization (ILO) Global Business and Disability Network Charter.

Zain Jordan inaugurated its sixth mobile maintenance training center providing free training courses for youth on the maintenance of cellular devices

August

Zain Cash collaborates with UNHCR and IrisGuard to introduce iris technology for cash disbursements to refugees in Iraq

September

In partnership with Boubyan Bank, announces plans for the development of the first digital platform for Islamic banking services, marking one of the first digital alliances in the region between a telecom entity and a bank

Partnership with Mentor Arabia to empower, upskill and protect the region’s youth from risky behaviors

Teaming up with GSMA to disclose Climate Impacts, an initiative to develop decarbonization pathway for mobile sector

Zain Jordan inaugurated ‘The Bunker’, the region’s first military-grade high security network data center offering co-location, Cloud, virtual private data center and Business continuity services

Launch of innovative platform, Zain Cloud Connect with Oracle FastConnect, linking customers and different cloud service providers in a simple, secure and cost-effective way

Zain crowned ‘Best Operator’ and ‘Best Brand’ at Telecom World Middle East Awards 2019, winning Best Brand accolade for the sixth consecutive year

Zain Kuwait partners with Microsoft to launch Office 365 offerings, becomes authorized reseller of Azure cloud solutions.
Zain Kuwait achieves gold partnership status with Dell-EMC.

October

In collaboration with the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, publication of a report on Child Online Safety launched at United Nations meeting in New York, highlighting risks and harms facing children and how to prioritize online Safety

Following a Group-wide framework agreement with Digital Virgo on Zain’s API platform, Zain Kuwait launches subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service ‘PlayVOD’ offering a rich library of over 3,000 movies and TV series, inclusive of MBC

Zain KSA launches the largest 5G network in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe (third largest globally) through network of 2,600 towers across 27 cities in KSA

Zain Drone enters memorandum of understanding with BHGE for digital inspections, aiming to reduce safety risks, operator error and time in energy sector

Zain’s Gender Diversity Program (WE) given highest recognition as Best Gender Diversity Initiative in Workplace for a Corporate in MENA for 2019 at Entrepreneur Magazine’s Achieving Women Awards

Zain Bahrain rolls out e-waste recycling initiative to collect e-waste from the company and its employees, including electronic products

November

Zain Group named as the Best Overall Telecommunications Group for 2019 by leading industry publication CommsMEA, with Zain Saudi Arabia named the Best MEA Telecom Operator

In a regional first, Zain launches 5G roaming service in MENA between Kuwait and KSA, with 5G inbound and outbound roaming speeds reaching 500 Mbps

Zain participates in the activities of the regional “Nuqat” conference in the framework of its support to the fields of innovation and sustainability

Zain Bahrain enters multi-year agreement with Ericsson to deploy 5G network in Kingdom, showcases 5G capabilities

December

Utilizing world-class Ai solutions, Zain Kuwait’s smart assistant, zBot, extends its availability on WhatsApp allowing customers to directly chat in a fully automated manner without the need for human input

2019 AT A GLANCE

STRATEGIC REVIEW

GOVERNANCE

Financial STATEMENTS

A YearIn Review