The Saudi Telecommunication Company (STC), Etisalat, recently began broadcasting advertisements through mobile telephones, reported Al-Watan daily. The new service, which is currently operated on a trial basis, allows commercial firms to market their products and services by sending advertisements to local mobile telephone subscribers.
This service enables messaging in both English and Arabic, and is transmitted via a message broadcast center (MBC).
This new marketing strategy has a good chance of reaching a large customer-base, as the use of mobile text messages in Saudi Arabia, according to industry sources, is commonplace. Etisalat reported that 66.4 million short messages (SMS) were exchanged in the Kingdom during the month of July alone.
Furthermore, the number of local mobile telephone subscribers currently stands at an estimated 2.2 million, including 600,000 family lines. The number of family mobile telephone lines, which were converted into regular mobile telephone lines, reached 84,000. — (Mena Report)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
