STC Group Selects ItsOn to Launch Disruptive Digital Brand
Global Operator Reimagines Mobile Experience for Millennials
REDWOOD CITY, California, May 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, ItsOn and Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC), which serves more than 100 million customers, announced the imminent launch of a new digital mobile brand, Jawwy from STC, to be available before the end of the month. Jawwy from STC is designed to meet the increasing demands of mobile customers in Saudi Arabia. In this partnership, STC will use ItsOn's cloud-based platform to build and launch the disruptive new carrier brand as part of its broader digital transformation.
"We needed to develop a new offering for digitally-savvy young people," said Dr. Khaled Biyari, CEO of STC Group. "The millennials of today's Saudi Arabia exemplify the ongoing shift in consumer behavior and expectations. They live in an always-on, real-time world and they expect companies to cater to them in the same way. Jawwy is a significant part of STC's current digital transformation and we believe this initiative will set the pace for the telecom sector in KSA and beyond."
Saudi Arabia has one of the world's highest penetration rates of smartphones, social media and online platforms, and Saudis under the age of 30 comprise around 65 percent of the population. This has led STC to adopt new approaches to better meet the evolving needs of young, digitally-savvy customers, including the launch of Jawwy from STC. This launch will deliver new, innovative capabilities and services to this customer segment, including:
- Rapid service activation leveraging existing social network credentials
- Personalized plan creation and management
- Real-time transparency of plans and usage consumption
- Contextual and personalized mobile commerce bundles and offers
- New service sharing capabilities across devices, accounts or family members
- e-Commerce with delivery and pick-up options
- Online, social and peer-to-peer customer support
Unlike other operators, customers do not need to purchase a new device to enjoy the benefits of the Jawwy service. These new digital experiences are made accessible to all consumers by simply purchasing a Jawwy SIM card and downloading the Jawwy application – all powered by the ItsOn platform. This first-of-its-kind app will be available in both iOS and Android versions.
To ensure that this transformational initiative is deep-rooted and sustainable, STC has set up a dedicated digital business unit to design, develop and operate Jawwy. The new team's mandate is to innovate by reimagining solutions for the current issues and evolving needs of a new generation.
"ItsOn's transformational technology is a leap forward for mobile service delivery in Saudi Arabia, allowing us to create a truly breakthrough digital mobile brand," said Subhra Das, CEO of Jawwy from STC. "Consumers across the world increasingly demand a better mobile experience with more control, transparency and personalization of their plans, which wouldn't normally be possible due to the limitations of legacy systems. ItsOn will help us deliver the most enjoyable mobile digital experience to our users."
As operators seek new opportunities to grow their business beyond traditional voice, text and data services, ItsOn enables them to deliver new digital capabilities, services and bundles to consumers through an amazing and appealing real-time end-user experience. The platform automates key operator business and operational support functions - such as billing, charging, rating, policy, activation, marketing and on-device purchases - to deliver a superior digital consumer experience.
Today's announcement proves how ItsOn can rapidly integrate with mobile operators, enable them to launch a variety of new digital services, and provide a seamless, digital consumer experience.
"Jawwy from STC is a visionary brand that believes in offering its customers simplicity, transparency and trust. The digital experiences it will deliver to its customers directly align with this intent," said Greg Raleigh, CEO and founder of ItsOn. "We designed our platform and our company for just this type of partnership – to seamlessly integrate with operators, so they can quickly become a digital service provider, engage better with users and increase customer loyalty. STC and Jawwy deserve great recognition for implementing this innovative, customer-centric digital service delivery infrastructure and brand."
About STC
Headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Telecom Group is the largest telecommunications company in the Middle East and North Africa based on market value, with revenues of 50,836,000,000 billion riyals ($13,556,000,000) in realizable revenue in 2015 and 9,334,000,000 billion riyals ($2,489,000,000 dollars) of net income.
STC was established in 1998 and currently has about 100,000,000 customers worldwide and serves customers through a fiber-optic network that spans 137,000 kilometers across Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
In Saudi Arabia (the group's major market) STC operates the largest modern mobile network in the Middle East covering over 99% of the country's populated areas in addition to providing 4G mobile broadband service to over 85% of the population of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Besides its wholly-owned main operation in Saudi Arabia, STC's investments include 100% ownership of Viva Bahrain, 51.8% of Viva Kuwait (along with a management contract), 35% of Oger Telecom Limited in UAE (which controls Turk Telecom, Avea in Turkey, Cell-C in South Africa, and 25% of Binariang GSM Holding in Malaysia which controls Maxis in Malaysia and Aircel in India). In addition to the above, STC has other investments in information technology, content, distribution, contact centers and real estate, all of which support its telecommunications operations across the Middle East.
About Jawwy from STC
Jawwy from STC is a new digital mobile experience for today's digital millennials. We say it is 'Personal mobile service, in an app.' It has its own SIM, app and freshly designed digital channels for buying and receiving support. With the app, users can build, manage and share their plan in real time, giving them complete control over the services they buy and use. The app is available in iOS and Android versions. To know more, please visit jawwy.sa.
About ItsOn
ItsOn is a proven leader in the telecommunications industry, having fundamentally changed how mobile services are delivered and consumed. The company launched its services platform for mobile operators in the U.S. and globally last year, and counts both Sprint and Virgin Mobile as customers. ItsOn investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Tenaya Capital, Vodafone Ventures, Verizon Investments, Cisco and Delta Capital Partners. The company is privately held and headquartered in Redwood City, CA. For more information, please visit www.itsoninc.com or follow @ItsOnInc on Twitter.
Alex Ingram
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415-299-6586
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