Ministry of Telecommunications /OGERO, the government owned telecom operator in Lebanon has announced the completion of a successful year in 2004 during which the company upgraded its telecommunications infrastructure and expanded its landline network to cover 95 per cent of Lebanon. OGERO, with its customer-centric approach has extended its digital and customer service centres besides increasing the number of public telephone booths in the country.
OGERO was awarded the prestigious ISO 9001: 2000 certification in February 2004. The certificate was awarded after detailed auditing and verification of OGERO’s services to customers and its overall functioning. This achievement reflects OGERO’s commitment of providing high quality services to its customers, adopting the latest IT and communication systems.
Engineer Mohammed Fouad Hamdan, Chairman and CEO of OGERO said, “OGERO’s achievements over the last few years is a result of the committed efforts of our in-house team to develop innovative services that will best serve our customers. It is part of our strategy to implement the most modern information and communication technology so as to cater to every need of our growing customer base. OGERO’s success has also helped us play a key role in a scenario where ICT is a pillar of Lebanon’s national economy.”
A range of telecom services called ‘Star Services’ have been launched by OGERO. These include call forwarding, caller identification facilities (CLIP), three way calling and call waiting services. OGERO has also introduced prepaid services in the form of two prepaid cards called Kalam and Telecarte. While Kalam can be used in any landline connection to make local and international calls, Telecarte is meant to be used only in public telephone booths. As OGERO intends to make its services available to the entire society, it has set up 40 customer centres and 2,713 public telephone booths.
As part of its enhanced digital services, OGERO has launched its Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), which provides new functions and services on a telephone line. ISDN allows integrated telecommunication services like voice, facsimile, telephony, Internet access and data transfer on a single line telephone network, with up to eight terminals being supported on one ISDN line. OGERO has also introduced a leased line that circuits between two or more points providing the services’ subscribers with dedicated private networks.
OGERO recently introduced short number and special number services. As per the short number service corporate clients and public institutions can request for three or four digit numbers. The special number service can be availed by all customers upon payment of the stipulated special number fee. OGERO also has a well-equipped call centre that assists customers in all telecommunication related queries round the clock.
“We are constantly looking to serve our customers with innovative and user friendly techniques. Customer satisfaction is our top priority and this approach of OGERO has helped us achieve tremendous success over the years. The number of requests or applications for landline connections in Lebanon has been rapidly increasing and we were able to successfully execute 95 per cent of these requests. Further, any resident in Lebanon can now get a landline connection without any delays. Also, OGERO will soon launch a new scheme by which customers can get a landline connection where out-going calls can be made using prepaid cards at very affordable rates,” concluded Hamdan.
