wi-tribe news

wi-tribe and Packet One International sign HOA to Boost Asian WiMAX Industry

Date:

September 29, 2009

September 29, 2009: The Asian WiMAX industry received a further boost with the signing of a Heads of Agreement (HOA) between wi-tribe, a subsidiary of Qatar Telecom (Qtel), with their Group Headquarters in the Bahrain, and Packet One International (P1i), the international WiMAX global services arm and associated company of Packet One (P1) in Malaysia.

The HOA paves the way for a collaborative partnership on multiple fronts to strengthen the WIMAX industry in Asia particularly to derive and implement best practices for both service providers to significantly boost WiMAX user and customer experience.

Sami Hinedi, wi-tribe’s Group CEO said, “Being major players in the consumer wireless broadband arena, this partnership gives wi-tribe and P1i the opportunity to share a lot of information, which can have tremendous mutual benefit. The HOA will enable wi-tribe and P1i to share best practices and lessons learnt in product and service development, sales and marketing strategies, and improvement of network performance, customer care and support.”

This agreement will allow wi-tribe and P1i to explore and share information related to the industry. It will allow both companies to improve in a large number of areas such as customer care; sharing best practices and lessons learned in analysing and improving customer satisfaction and experience. Another major area of understanding will deal with regulatory authorities and how service providers can better cooperate to lobby regulators, deal with non-company topics and respond to regulatory consultations and inquiries.

Commenting on wi-tribe’s recent activities Sami added, “wi-tribe now has presence in Jordan and Pakistan, and we expect to launch in Philippines soon. The Asian and African markets have tremendous growth potential for broadband services and at wi-tribe we are constantly looking at new opportunities to expand our presence and offer a convenient, flexible and hassle-free internet experience to our customers.”

“wi-tribe and P1’s core strategic thrust is to provide a superior customer experience. P1 is Asia Pacific’s first and world’s largest 802.16e 2.3GHz WiMAX network operator and service provider (outside of Korea). It is fast approaching its 100,000 subscribers mark having only launched commercial services in August 2008. As the international global services arm, P1i constantly record and help formulate its best practices to better serve customers; improve service levels and deliver exceptional value through attractive packages and solid networks”, commented Dr PS Tang, Managing Director of P1i.

He added, “This is the basis of our collaboration with wi-tribe, to further enrich each our knowledge resource pool”.

Both wi-tribe and P1i have extensive experience in acquiring, developing and operating WiMAX networks and hope to accelerate the growth of WiMAX ecosystem in their regions of interest through this collaboration.

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About the wi-tribe Group:

wi-tribe is a focused  consumer broadband services provider that aims to close the digital divide by offering a convenient, flexible and hassle-free internet experience in emerging markets.

Backed by unrivaled experience, knowledge and vision, wi-tribe was born in April 2007 as a partnership between Qatar Telecom, Clearwire and the A.A. Turki Group of companies (ATCO).

In 2008, wi-tribe launched its first WiMAX operation in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. wi-tribe’s second WiMAX operation, in its largest market to date, was launched in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in July 2009. wi-tribe is currently preparing to launch its third WiMAX operation in the Republic of Philippines.

About Packet One International Pte Ltd (P1i):

Packet One International (P1i) is the W1MAX Global Services arm of the KLSE Main Board listed, Green Packet Group and sister company of P1 Malaysia (largest WiMAX 802.16e 2.3GHz network operator outside of Korea and the first in the Asia Pacific).  Combining the tried-and-tested experience from launching the world’s largest commercial deployment of WiMAX, with best-business-practices, innovation and in-market knowledge, P1i offers a comprehensive range of WiMAX services to give aspiring operators shorter time to market, economies of scale, and instant market traction,

The Asian-based company is currently collaborating with operators from various regions – carving a niche and proving to be an emerging market expert.