First 15 minutes of Wi-Fi on Qatar Airways free, thanks to Ooredoo

Source: Ooredoo. The MoU was signed by (from left) Waleed Al Sayed, CEO, Ooredoo Qatar and Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Akbar Al Baker.

Ooredoo and Qatar Airways have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that will see Ooredoo sponsor Qatar Airways’ Onboard Wi-Fi service to enhance the customer experience on Qatar Airways flights and provide unmatched connectivity in the air. The three-year agreement positions Ooredoo as the exclusive onboard Wi-Fi sponsor for all Qatar Airways flights that are equipped with onboard Wi-Fi*.

With the Onboard Wi-Fi service, customers can use portable electronic devices to access emails, browse the Internet and also send SMS/MMS via their smartphones once the service is enabled on board.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Akbar Al Baker said: “Qatar Airways continues to strive to offer the very best onboard experience for our customers, and our cutting-edge onboard Wi-Fi service provides an incredible connection. We are proud to work with Ooredoo, a leading Qatari company, to bring this service to the world.”

Waleed Al Sayed, CEO, Ooredoo Qatar, said: “Ooredoo strives to ensure that customers can always enjoy the best network wherever they are in the world, and our partnership with Qatar Airways takes our commitment to connectivity to the skies. Qatar is leading the way in the incredible facilities being offered to visitors and residents, and we are pleased to extend our work with Qatar Airways through this important agreement.”

Passengers on the Qatar Airways flights will be made aware that the network is available with the Ooredoo logo on the login screen, crew announcements, in-seat pocket information and on-flight screen adverts. With Ooredoo’s sponsorship, all passengers can enjoy the first fifteen minutes of Wi-Fi for free. After the free period, customers will be able to continue using the Wi-Fi service by entering their credit card details when prompted.

*Onboard Wi-Fi is available on all Qatar Airways A380, A350, B787, A319, and select A320 and A330 aircraft.

Indosat Ooredoo launches 4G-LTE service nationwide

Source: Ooredoo.

Indosat Ooredoo has launched its high speed 4G-LTE service nationwide. The company announced that the faster connectivity and clearer voice quality its new 4Gplus data network provides is available at the same price as existing 3G services.

Over the past two years Indosat Ooredoo has doubled existing network speeds and offered the fastest 3G Internet speeds available. Its 4Gplus service offers download speeds independently tested at reaching up to 185Mbps.

Indosat Ooredoo’s 4Gplus service is available in 21 cities throughout Indonesia, with another 14 to be added by the end of 2015. Indosat Ooredoo is committed to offering the service to 5 million subscribers more each month in 2016.

Alexander Rusli, President Director and CEO commented: “The plus in Indosat Ooredoo’s 4Gplus service is more than raw data high-speed and bandwidth. As we introduce more people to digital society, we want our service be more accessible for Indonesian people. We want to remove the painpoints and worries that we know customers experience and help them to enjoy and get the most out of the service available to them.

“We want to go the extra mile for our customers and make our service affordable, accessible and easy for people to understand how it can improve their everyday lives. We want our customers to be able to stream a football match live without buffering, to make video calls via Skype without interruptions, to be able to work confidently on-the-go and to browse, chat and upload a selfie without delays. This is what we mean when we say the best digital experience possible.”

The launch of 4Gplus complements the recent expansion of the company’s store footprint. Indosat Ooredoo recently has signed an agreement with EraJaya to further expand it to 350 outlets in the coming years.

Alexander Rusli added: “As we build the leading digital telco we want to create a totally new digital experience where the customer has access to the widest range of smartphones, the most transparent and attractive data plans, digital apps and content for trials, all coupled with the most personal service. ”

Interested?

Indosat Ooredoo’s 4Gplus customers will receive a free data quota of up to 10GB, to be used on the 4G network.  Indosat Ooredoo customers will enjoy 10,000 minutes of voice calls to a loved one on a Indosat Ooredoo number free of charge, with topups from Rp10,000 onwards.

Bundle plans are available from Rp899. Bundle customers may enjoy 6GB of bonus quota valid for three months with a prepaid service or from Rp100 a month with a postpaid service.

Current Indosat Ooredoo customers who do not have a 4G USIM can upgrade their current SIM card to a 4Gplus USIM for free at the nearest Indosat Ooredoo store or through roving mobile agents, who will be situated at central areas.

Pay for Careem rides with an SMS to Ooredoo in Qatar

Ooredoo has partnered with Careem, the app-based car service, to customers’ travel needs across Qatar.

Careem enables customers to book and pay for a taxi in advance, fixing the journey’s cost and letting users to book on the web, via a mobile app, or by calling a dedicated hotline.

The partnership is the first of its kind, allowing customers to top up their ‘Careem Credit’ accounts via their Hala or Shahry account in denominations of QR 50, QR 100, QR 200, QR 300 or QR 350. As an added bonus, credit cards are not required - they can send an SMS and the amount they would like to top up their Careem account with to 92248, effectively paying for the ride with their mobile phone.

Unlike other car services in Qatar, Careem allows users to choose the car type that best suits their needs, have the option of paying in cash, credit or through Ooredoo, and select from first, business, or economy class cars. The Careem application also automatically locates a user’s address using GPS.

Customers can then follow their driver in real time on the application map, and drivers will send an SMS to let customers know they've arrived. To ensure the best service, users can also rate drivers to help monitor and improve service levels.

Interested?

Ooredoo customers can download the application and sign up using the promo code ‘Ooredoo’ to enjoy QR 60 off their first ride.

Ooredoo rolls out tourist promotion for khareef season

Source: Ooredoo.

Ooredoo has launched a promotion to enable prepaid users visiting this year’s Salalah Tourism Festival to share more of their holiday with friends and family. The Ooredoo Visitor Line will provide residents and tourists to the Sultanate with cost efficient, convenient, and reliable services during the khareef season, the autumn monsoon season which ends in September. Prepaid users signing up to the new Visitor Line will also get the opportunity to take advantage of Ooredoo’s ‘More’ packages to give them great value during their stay.

The offer will give tourists in Oman everything they need to stay connected with 1GB of data, 60 minutes talk time, and 60 local and international SMSes. Customers can enjoy instant access to apps such as Snapchat, Whatsapp and Instagram. Tourists can also benefit from all other existing prepaid offers, including More Internet, More International and More Credit, to give them extra value on data, call minutes or credit.

Feras Al Shaikh, Director of Consumer Sales at Ooredoo said: “With more than 1.8 million visitors from all over the world expected to travel to Salalah this year, Ooredoo decided to take the initiative and introduce an offer tailored to meeting and satisfying their needs. Keeping the Sultanate’s guests in touch with loved ones was our aspiration, which was designed to provide users with maximum comfort and convenience during their stay. This is our way of welcoming them to khareef and Oman.”

“Providing our customers with the highest levels of connectivity is what our More products are all about; delivering a competitive package exceptional service with unrivalled performance and reliability. This promotion will inspire users to talk more, connect more, and share more with family and friends no matter where they are in the world” said Feras.

As the main sponsor of the Salalah Tourism Festival, Ooredoo has constructed a stand at the festival grounds that will enable it to service twice the amount of customers from last year. Ooredoo has also deployed additional 2G, 3G+ and 4G sites in preparation for khareef.

Interested?

Enquire at the 31 Ooredoo stores located across the Sultanate or check the website

Read the TechTrade Asia blog post on advances in the Ooredoo network in recent years.