Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) and MTC Touch, in collaboration with the Lebanese Ministry of Telecommunications, announced today the upgrading of the MIC2 network, operated by MTC, to offer new services to its growing customer base. The announcement came during a press conference held at the Mövenpick Hotel in Beirut under the auspices of Mr. Marwan Hamadeh, Minister of Telecommunications of Lebanon.
Commenting on the announcement, Roula Abou Daher, chief technical officer, MTC Touch, said: "We have already launched prepaid SMS roaming services for Lebanon-based customers while they are visiting Saudi Arabia, and we're about to make the service available in other countries in the very near future."
MTC Touch will provide its customers with a service package to access their SMS, MMS, and data services via their mobile phones with a Motorola Global Applications Management Architecture (GAMA) solution which seamlessly integrates end-user data applications and MTC Touch billing and messaging platforms.
Abu Daher continued, “I would like to thank the Ministry of Telecommunications for its collaboration and its recognition of the urgent need to upgrade the network, thus providing us with the relevant investment to realize this enhancement. I would also like to confirm that the development plans related to this expansion have been carried out as per our original timetable."
“MTC Touch will be able to better serve its existing customers through the deployment of the Motorola solution and services. This will also enable us to attract new users who may want to send and receive messages, images and video, and access email and the Internet while abroad. In addition, visitors to Lebanon will now be able to use wireless and mobile email solutions, web browsing or other data services they have subscribed to in their home country and thereby to stay connected when roaming on the MTC Touch network,” she added.
“Deployment of services that customers really want – such as MTC Touch’s new roaming SMS, MMS, email and Web connectivity for pre-paid and post-paid subscribers – is one of the key ways that operators including the MTC Group enhance end-user experiences in the increasingly competitive Middle East telecoms sector. The Motorola GAMA solution highlights our ability to enable the region’s operators to satisfy customers and meet their business objectives,” said Ali Amer, senior director of sales for Motorola Networks & Enterprise in the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan.
A portion of the revenue on this contract was recognized by Motorola in the third quarter of 2006.
