Thuraya launches “Al Jazeera Mobile” on Thuraya
Satellite Phones
Al Jazeera Channel has signed an agreement with Thuraya
Satellite Telecommunications Company to provide Thuraya
subscribers with the latest breaking, political, business,
and sports news through Short Messaging Service (SMS).
This service is delivered through the collaboration
between Al Jazeera Channel, the content provider, Al
Majaz Telecom, the technology solution provider, and
Thuraya, the regional satellite telecom operator through
which the service is provided on an international scale
for the first time.
Al Jazeera Channel launched its mobile service in collaboration
with Al Majaz Telecommunications Technology back in
October 2003, to ensure that its viewers are kept informed
at all time about recent developments regionally and
globally. Through a number of local GSM operators in
the Middle East and North Africa, the service managed
in a short period to achieve a growing number of subscribers.
Thuraya's mobile satellite network currently has the
world's largest subscriber base for satellite handheld
services, and has developed an advanced satellite system
whose versatile capabilities support several personal,
business and industrial communication applications.
With this agreement, Thuraya's growing subscribers
in the Middle East, Europe, North and Central Africa,
Central Asia and Indian subcontinent will be able to
receive Al Jazeera Channel news on their satellite telephones.
Al Jazeera Mobile service is currently available to
all GSM subscribers in the Middle East and North Africa
in Arabic and English. Through this agreement with Thuraya,
news and information alerts in addition to latest developments
from around the world will be provided to news and information
followers located in remote and rural areas that lack
GSM coverage.
Launching the new service with Al Jazeera officials
at GITEX 2005 in Dubai, Thuraya's CEO Mr. Yousuf Al
Sayed said, “ Al Jazeera is a key news provider
in several arenas, and we are very pleased for partnering
with them to add a new value for our mobile satellite
subscribers ” .
He continued, “ It is a strong market trend these
days to have lots of information, entertainment and
functionalities on mobile phones and “ Al Jazeera
Mobile ” will certainly add a lot of joy and convenience
for our subscribers who wish to be instantly updated
on world events ” . He also added that with the
launch of Thuraya ' s 2nd generation GPRS-enabled handsets
early next year, subscribers would even be able to download
video clips as part of this short-message media service.
Commenting on this agreement, Al Jazeera Channel's
Marketing Director Mr. Hamad Yahya Al-Nuaimi maintained
that, "As a news channel, our aim is to seek all
possible means, utilizing latest technologies available,
in order to keep our viewers and news followers constantly
connected with the world and up to date with the latest
developments, regionally and globally."
Al Majaz Telecom Technology's CEO Mr. Mohammed A. Al-Obaidly
expressed his satisfaction with the new alliance and
said, “ Our goal is to identify the right partners
that can help us expand Al Jazeera Mobile service, while
providing a variety of channels for potential subscribers.
With its vast coverage map and state-of-the-art satellite
system, Thuraya can help us reach our objectives ”
.
While registration in “Al Jazeera Mobile”
service is free-of-charge, subscription costs just US$
5 per month for each of the service options.
To subscribe to this new service, Thuraya users should
send an SMS message with the required service code to
the number 1650 (on Satellite mode).
Alternatively, subscribers can call Thuraya's helpline
on 100 for assistance.
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27
September 2005 
