The chief regulatory officer of Zain Group, Saud Al Zaid, has left the operator to become board member of the newly-formed Kuwait Telecom Regulatory Authority.
Zain has appointed 17-year company veteran Eaman Al Roudhan as his replacement.
Commenting…
The chief regulatory officer of Zain Group, Saud Al Zaid, has left the operator to become board member of the newly-formed Kuwait Telecom Regulatory Authority.
Zain has appointed 17-year company veteran Eaman Al Roudhan as his replacement.
Commenting on Al Zaid’s departure, Zain CEO Scott Gegenheimer said he was “confident [Al Zaid] will play a constructive role in the enhancement of the sector in Kuwait and beyond”.
Gegenheimer added he was pleased to be able to appoint Al Roudhan, a company “stalwart” who joined Zain Kuwait in 1998, as Al Zaid’s replacement.
“With the ever increasing importance of telecom regulation in the Middle East and Africa, Mrs Al Roudhan has the right qualifications and industry experience to capitalise upon Saud Al Zaid’s outstanding work to date and support all Zain operations in their exacting dealings with regulators across the region.”
Kuwait’s parliament ratified a bill for the creation of an independent telecoms regulator in April. Up until now, the communications ministry has been regulating the telecoms industry while also operating Kuwait’s fixed-line network.
Having an independent regulator is expected to put an end to that conflict of interest and may also lead to the privatisation of the fixed network, which has long been in the pipeline.
Kuwait has one fixed network and three mobile operators: Zain, Ooredoo’s Wataniya, and Saudi Telecom’s Viva.
Late last month, Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund announced it would sell its shares in Zain, although a timeline has yet to be disclosed. The Kuwait Investment Authority has a 24.6% stake in Zain.
