Zain Kuwait & Huawei Launch Game Center Hosting Platform

Zain, the leading telecom provider in Kuwait, has unveiled a new game center platform for its customers that brings together the services and experiences of content providers from around the world. The platform has been launched together with Huawei—a leading global ICT solutions provider—and leverages content from Huawei’s global inTouch Lab Partnership Program.

The service platform marks a new area of media cooperation between the two companies who have previously partnered on developing Zain’s high-speed mobile broadband network. The latest announcement was made during a launch ceremony held in Zain Kuwait and Huawei’s Joint Innovation Center in the presence of senior representatives from both Zain and Huawei.

The new services will be offered by Zain through a Huawei-hosted entertainment portal known as Wakti—meaning “My Time” in Arabic. The online portal houses various services developed through the global inTouch Program and seeks to shorten the time-to-market of newly-created entertainment services for consumers in the Middle East. Zain customers can download the Wakti app starting today and purchase content using their existing prepaid or post-paid accounts.

Nadia Al Saif, Zain’s Value Added Services Director said, “We are pleased to be bringing our customers this new suite of content and services, which is in line with growing demand for mobile data content from various sources. Zain is focused on driving customer satisfaction ever higher, and in partnership with Huawei, we are happy to consistently introduce innovative new services to our markets.”

Through the partnership, Zain is now able to deliver a fresh portfolio of games, ringtones and themes to local consumers while also opening up additional revenue streams for their respective businesses. To date Huawei’s inTouch Partnership Program includes over 500 partners worldwide collaborating across seven global Hosting Centers.

“Over the years Zain has constantly sought to bring original and creative services to its customers in Kuwait. Zain now has an avenue for even closer cooperation with the wider communication industry. By leveraging Huawei’s own investments in world-class content hosting centers, the launch of the Wakti platform in Kuwait provides Zain customers with easier access to a broader world of entertainment and communication possibilities,” said Mohamad Sharara, President of Zain Key Account at Huawei.

As part of its Wakti program, Huawei has already signed a series of agreements with partners such as Rockville, MT2, Anghami, and GamePower7. The agreements include cooperation on a range of mobile value-added services as well as video, music, and gaming content—much of which will now be available to Zain customers for the first time.

In recent years Zain and Huawei have continued to strengthen their technology partnership across the Middle East. This includes the launch of a first-of-its-kind Joint Innovation Center based in Kuwait, which today serves as a research hub from which Zain is able to advance its mobile broadband network, services, and applications offered to customers in Kuwait and across the region.