Multimedia Messaging Service MMS from Etisalat on hold

Etisalat Lowers Local Call Rates

25-Oct-2003

Abu Dhabi – UAE, 25 October 2003: Etisalat is lowering the cost of local telephone calls from GSM and WASEL pre-paid mobiles and the charges for sending SMS messages with effect from Sunday 26 October 2003.

“Etisalat is cutting the cost of mobile calls and SMS as part of its strategy to deliver the best services at the most competitive prices,” says Mohammed Al Fahim, Etisalat’s Executive Vice President Marketing. “Our customers are the cornerstone of our business and the foundation of 27 years of Etisalat success in the UAE. Lowering prices will result in even higher levels of satisfaction for Etisalat’s mobile customers.”

The local call charges per minute during peak time will be reduced from 30 fils to 24 fils (from 7am till 2pm and 4pm till midnight) while local call charges per minute during off-peak time will be reduced from 21 fils to 18 fils (from 2pm till 4pm and midnight till 7am). Etisalat will also reduce the quarterly post paid GSM subscription fee from Dhs. 90 to Dhs.60.

The charge for sending an SMS message from post paid GSM and pre-paid Wasel mobiles will also be reduced from 30 fils to 18 fils for messages sent locally and from 90 fils to 60 fils for messages sent to international destinations.

Mohammed Al Fahim continues: “Our move to reduce the costs of SMS messages is a result of the tremendous popularity of the service across all segments, ranging from consumer to business, local to international. As we enter this special time of year, Etisalat is again showing that we are committed to sharing our rewards with our customers in the most direct way we can.”

Ahmed Bin Ali, Manager Public Relations – Etisalat, adds: “Etisalat is proud that the UAE enjoys one of the highest mobile penetration figures in the world. With more than 2.8 million mobile lines, this price reduction will have a real impact on everyone’s mobile usage. Etisalat is committed to offering state-of-the-art mobile services for some of the most competitive prices available.

“We are also working on providing value-added-services to our customers such as EW@P, m-NET GPRS and MMS, as well as testing 3G networks which are due for launch in 2004. Our UAE service is complemented by international GSM roaming agreements with 118 different countries, making Etisalat’s services truly global,” adds Bin Ali.keralamonitor.com

ADB Study of Guarantee Mechanisms to Support Asian Bond Market Initiative

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (30 October 2003) - ADB will help identify and explore better utilization of guarantee mechanisms that can support development of domestic and regional bond markets in the ASEAN+3 countries through a technical assistance (TA) grant just approved for US$500,000.

The TA will review and compare existing and past mechanisms, as well as regional and international best practices, and consider the most effective guarantee mechanism that could foster bond market development, particularly in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand.

The assistance will support the work of the voluntary working group created under the Forum of Finance Ministers of the ASEAN+3 on Guarantee Mechanism for the Asian Bond Market Initiative (ABMI).

The working group is one of six set up under the ABMI to examine the conditions necessary for bond market development. The groups are expected to provide valuable input to the decision-making by the finance ministers of ASEAN+3, which comprises the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members, plus People's Republic of China, Japan, and Republic of Korea.

The ABMI, endorsed at the ASEAN+3 deputies meeting in Chiang Mai in December 2002, emphasizes the promotion of greater access to the market by a wide variety of issuers and the creation of an environment conductive to domestic and regional bond market development.

The mismatch of debt maturity and currency and Asia's financing needs was identified as a major factor underlying the regional financial crisis that began in 1997.

Although Asia has since made a remarkable recovery, mismatches remain a major source of financial vulnerability.

The ASEAN+3 and other forums have been trying to address the issue through the development of domestic and regional bond markets.

"This is ADB's first concrete support for the ASEAN+3's Bond Initiative," says Masato Miyachi, an ADB Senior Advisor.

"The TA will help the working group fulfill its key mandate of developing a model that may be used as a benchmark, examine existing facilities, and suggest areas for improvement. If we will be able to develop strong bond markets in ASEAN+3 countries, such efforts would provide a good model for other countries in the region to follow."

ADB has been a member of the voluntary working group on guarantee mechanisms for the ASEAN+3 since its inception in February 2003.

The working group has identified several domestic guarantee agencies, as well as bilateral and multilateral institutions that provide local currency guarantees. However, there are few guaranteed local currency bond transactions in the market. The reasons vary, from lack of market acceptance for the guarantee to structural hurdles caused by processing lead-time.

"There is no best practice model for guarantee facilities that can be readily applied to improve the effectiveness of domestic or regional agencies," says Mr. Miyachi."The potential and limitations of facilities need to be critically examined in order to establish effective domestic and regional mechanisms for bond market development."The TA is due to be completed by the end of April 2004.keralamonitor.com

Environment

ADB Study to Mitigate Arsenic Poisoning of Groundwater in Bangladesh

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (30 October 2003) - ADB has approved a US$120,000 technical assistance (TA) grant to review the situation regarding arsenic-contaminated groundwater in Bangladesh and to formulate a strategy to address this.

The goal is to provide safe drinking water and improve the health and economic well being of people exposed to arsenic and other groundwater contaminants.In consultation with key stakeholders, and considering the Government's policy, the TA will:

* Compile an inventory of completed and ongoing mitigation activities and their progress and lessons
* Formulate an assistance strategy, priority interventions and approaches that may be pursued by ADB and/or interested external funding agencies
* Provide a roadmap that synthesizes the actions and their timeframe.

The outputs will facilitate the coordination of assistance while catalyzing lessons and good practices and defining specific course of actions that should be taken by ADB.The executing agency is the Local Government Division of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives.keralamonitor.com

Multimedia Messaging Service MMS from Etisalat on hold

6-Oct-2003

Abu Dhabi, UAE – 04 October 2003: Such has been the demand since the launch of Multi-Media Messaging Service (MMS), that Etisalat has temporarily put on hold new registrations in order to expand capacity.

More than 200,000 people have registered to the new service since it was introduced in July, taking full advantage of Etisalat’s exciting offer of unlimited free messages and a 50% discount on registration.

“We are delighted by the response of our customers to this service, and we are now in the process of expanding capacity. Due to this expansion, we are not adding any more new registrations to the service for the time being,” commented Ahmed Bin Ali – Manager Public relations,Etisalat.

“Customers who have already subscribed to the service will continue to send and receive messages free of charge. During the expansion of the network, customers may experience some interruptions or delays from time to time,” concluded Bin Ali. -keralamonitor.com