From left: Ali Eid, President of Ericsson Saudi Arabia; Anders Lindblad, President of Ericsson Region Middle East; and Khalid Al-Kaf, Chief Executive Officer of Mobily, with other senior executives slice the ceremonial ribbon. As Saudi Arabia becomes one of the fastest growing ICT markets in the Middle Eastern region, Mobily – a leading driver of this rapid ICT advancement in the Kingdom – is planning to adopt the latest innovative technologies from Ericsson into its network. Under this initiative, Khalid Al-Kaf, Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Etisalat Co. (Mobily), signed a long term Sharia-compliant financing agreement of $280 million, in order to invest $330 million with Ericsson. The financing agreement was backed by the Swedish Export Credit Guarantee Board (EKN) and the Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK), with Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale. The agreement with Ericsson, which was signed in a ceremony, held at Mobile World Congress (MWC), will be used for the procurement of Ericsson products and services over the coming two years. Commenting at the signing ceremony, Khalid AI-Kaf, CEO, Mobily, said: “The fast adoption of advanced technologies has been accelerated in the past few years in Saudi Arabia, and our consumers are expecting seamless connectivity everywhere. To continue satisfying our customers' demand on connectivity, we will be investing to transform our mobile broadband infrastructure by adopting Ericsson's leading technologies and services.” – SG
