It’s finally happening. the Orange brand is being launched in Jordan.

2007 will be the year of telecom rebranding in Jordan. Goodbye Mobilecom (and Wanadoo) and hello Orange.

Goodbye Fastlink. Hello Zein/Zain/Zen. (The new brand for the MTC group).

That’s a lot of advertising money to be made by the media and the agencies. Hurrah!.

But let’s think about Orange. Here is my pseudo-informed prediction: The orange brand will boost Mobilecom’s fortunes, if, and that an important if, the rebranding goes deep enough (into service deliver, bundling, retail presence, customer service).

The Mobilecom brand never was able to shed it “me too” image. Fastlink had their “tribal” “Minna u Fina” (One of us) slogan. Mobilecom’s response was the rather meaningless/cheesy “Ma3ak la Dunya A7la” (With you for a sweeter/nicer world/life).

Fastlink always boasted a larger subscriber base (they had a the first mover’s advantage, remember) and always seemed the more innovative company.

It was, simply, the cooler brand.

Now, with the Orange brand, and with the disappearance of the Fastlink name, there is a new start of the branding game. You see, when companies provide similar services at similar prices, the emotional and irrational aspects of branding start to play a bigger role.

Orange is a clean, bold global brand. This inspires confidence. If Wanadoo also becomes Orange then bundling mobile (with landline) and internet services becomes a competitive advantage. Of course Fastlink/Zen/Zain/Zein (sorry I don’t know the spelling yet) will not just sit there. Although we are still waiting for them to start their all-out attack with cheaper broadband rates. We also still have to wait for september to see the new MTC brand.

In short, the Orange name represent a real chance to capture the attention of consumers in Jordan. And I predict that it will have a positive effect on the company behind it.

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16 responses to “Orange: a brighter future for Jordan Telecom/Mobilecom”

  1. Onzlo Avatar
    Onzlo

    Why change mobilecom? I think it is quite successful as a brand, in fact Fastlink is mobile phones in Jordan what Nescafe is to instant coffee or Hoover is to vacuum cleaners. Why go and replace that with a new name that to me sounds more like canned food products than a mobile phone company.

  2. Mariam Ayyash Avatar
    Mariam Ayyash

    ya fare7eti, the french are moving in! somehow, that does not make me feel comfortable at all (dont know which part, the french already took over)

    onzlo: rebranding is required when the old brand is no longer working, i think fastlink and mobilcom as brands are the WORST worldwide, but u see, branding is moving into amman, and things are getting serious, just as they should…

  3. Humeid Avatar
    Humeid

    Can you share with us a scenario that WOULD make you comfortable? It would truly be useful. Thanks.

  4. bambam Avatar
    bambam

    zein is about as stupid as a rebranding effort as the media team in fastlink has ever undertaken….
    wait there is a worst one…. link.net—> link—> RDS (something something)—-> then something else that was refused by MTC —-> then some more

    Perfect work guys i lost track of how many customers you lost in your link.net accounts. and i still don’t know what its called now

    I guess zein is supposed to apeal to the iraqi crowd ?

    As for orange actually wanadoo is the first one to complete the shift so am waiting for the full communication package, and compared to the shitty setup they have in link they will be blown out of the water and keep on extorting accounts out business that work with fastlink

  5. Pheras Hilal Avatar
    Pheras Hilal

    Actually, I like the Zein brand; because yeah, it would appeal to the Gulf and Iraqi markets, and the Lebanese, Sudanese and Jordanians would understand it, since our pan-Arab media is mostly financed by Gulf countries. At least it makes much more sense than MTC.

    True Ahmad, now it all breaks down to the value of the brand, its positioning, and how these companies can offer better customer service. But here’s the thing: Umniah is positioned as the low-cost mobile service provider, so it appeals to students, and the lower-middle class society, while Fastlink boasts the highest clientèle-base, while I still can’t figure out how MobileCom positioned itself (best network coverage?), so I think that with the new brands, each company can start all over again with a clean slate, and re-position itself in the market, adding more value to the services they offer.

  6. Pheras Hilal Avatar
    Pheras Hilal

    I’m still betting on Mobilecom and Orange ;-)

  7. hatem abunimeh Avatar
    hatem abunimeh

    Under the guise of motley trims they forcefully feed the forlorn consumer with their chicanery and shenanigan. Translation: You will end up paying the same amount of money per month no matter which bundle you choose.

  8. Mariam Ayyash Avatar
    Mariam Ayyash

    hatem :) i wish it would be so, i believe the bill is on the rise

    ahmad i dont have a scenario to anything, but i hate to see the french get it all! ya3ni why not have our own operators? our own mobile providers? our own damn name tags!

  9. Humeid Avatar
    Humeid

    Ayyash: when you say ‘our’ who is the ‘we’ you are referring to:

    We: Jordanians
    We: Arabs
    We: Muslims
    We: Humans

    We, Jordanians: Well, ‘we’ used to own Fastlink. It was built and managed by Jordanians. Still is staffed and managed by Jordanians. But it was bought by another ‘we’. In this case it was the Arab Kuwaitis. And by the way, Kuwaiti MTC owns a dozen or so operators in Africa and I would not be surprised if they also end up buying European operators soon).

    See here:
    http://www.mtctelecom.com/muse/obj/lang.default/portal.view/content/About%20us/Worldwide%20Presence

    We, Jordanians (again): What about Xpress. It’s Jordanian owned.

    We, Arabs/Muslims: Think about Umnia. It was started in Jordan by a Lebanese guy. Then he sold it to the Bahrainis. Long live Arabia!

    We, Humans: Kuwaiti MTC operates in Africa, and Egyptian Orascom operates in places like Bangladesh and Pakistan. Jordanian French Jordan Telecom his just bought a telecom business in Bahrain. Dubai Ports owns the most important ports worldwide. Let’s not even talk about what companies like Emaar are doing worldwide. If the ‘We’ is ‘we humans’ then we can be OK if the French come with the name tags.

    It’s also cool if we can have our ‘own’ name tags that we can give the world. Did you know that the Centerpoint brands (Shoemart, Home Center, Baby Shop, etc) are actually Indian?

    Think about that..

  10. nasimjo Avatar
    nasimjo

    I guess rebranding mobilecom to orange and Fastlink to zein will make a change in places!

    as a person who sensed such a shift in romania, where a romanian-very-mobilecom-alike network switched to Orange … almost all the services remained the same, the only change were that employees turned to talk to people like **** … simply becoz they are “orange employees”.

  11. Moey Avatar
    Moey

    Humaid any idea who did the rebranding for JT?

  12. Jazz Avatar
    Jazz

    I thing the reason is politic.
    take look around Jordan what you see,
    is it time for change, , , I DONT KNOW

  13. nathalie Avatar
    nathalie

    First of all I had the worst experience with Orange. It has the worst customer service and had I not complained to Orange in England i’d still be waiting for the them to install my line and ADSL. (I had to wait for 9 weeks to get my land line and an additional 2 weeks for my adsl. This is after one of their managers informed me that I was not their only customer and if I wasn’t happy I could go elsewhere (Ofcourse I can’t because they have a monopoly).

    Humeid, I do believe that arabs are not exclusively muslim but christian as well.

  14. Alma Avatar
    Alma

    I am skeptical. Will Orange be able to fix the abismal customer care?

  15. Amer Avatar
    Amer

    Orange will be successful in the high school / college niche, Zain will rule the business niche.

    The simple fact that Zain is a corporate merger across 21 countries with operating centers in 4 of them gives it the advantage when it comes to servicing business people across the middle east. Features like roaming and Mobile Windows compatibility will no longer be limited by geographical borders and “visitor lines” will virtually expire. Perfect for the tavelling business executive or small business owner.

    Orange will offer its ease of use and fresh looks to the younger, multimedia driven crowd. I lived in Jordan for 8 years and I noticed the large affinity towards anything new and colorful by the masses in colleges and schools. It’s a race of trends, and Orange is the trendy one – especially with talks about packaging internet and cable services within your cellular plan to imitate BrightHouse Networks in the U.S. That business model WILL work for the young and broke.

  16. Abdul Mansoor Khan Avatar
    Abdul Mansoor Khan

    Abdul Mansoor Khan

    House # 1341, St # 38, G-11/2, Isb.
    Cell (0334-5165694, 03335379175)

    Objective

    To work in a dynamic environment where I can broaden my horizon by complementing my theoretical knowledge along with practical experience and utilize my energy with the company’s offering opportunities for professional growth.

    Personal Information

    Father Name Abdul Qadir
    Date of Birth31st March 1983
    Place of BirthIslamabad
    Phone # 051-2211340
    CNIC # 61101-1951950-9
    NationalityPakistani
    Marital Status Single
    Religion Islam

    Academics Qualification

    2002 to 2006
    BS Computer Science in 2006 got 3.08/4.0 CGPA.
    The University of Lahore Islamabad Campus.

    1999 to 2001
    ICs in 2001
    Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Islamabad.

    1997 to 1999
    Matriculation in Science
    Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Islamabad.

    Experience in GSM Network.
    January 2007 to up till now
    One-year and Ten months experience in Huawei Technologies (Pvt) Ltd Pakistan in GSM Ufone GSM Project as Transmission DXX Engineer in Islamabad.

    Main Responsibilities

    I have successfully done the Swap activities of BSC’s in different cities in all over Pakistan.
    I have done work in MSC for Ater’s and A interfaces and BSC for Abis interface.
    I have successfully done the rehoming activities via Microwave of different sites in different cities in all over Pakistan.
    Patching and testing of new sites (First Call) via Microwave and Lease media and make end-to-end connectivity from BTS to BSC end.
    Trouble shooting of lease media and Microwave media.
    Installation and Commissioning of UMUX 1500 (KEY MILES).
    Making cross connection for new sites and rerouting of new sites via UMUX.
    Planning for Timeslots Management via UMUX for Expansion sites.
    UMUX and Passport Switch data V.35 interface connectivity.
    Survey for new Microwave and UMUX installation.
    I am quite familiar with LOS Survey and Microwave Planning.
    I have done work in NMS implementation for NEC Microwave PDH & SDH.
    NEC Microwave PNMT and PNMTJ.
    RTN Microwave 620 Huawei.

    Training

    Six Days Training of Huawei Microwave RTN and Huawei BTS 3012 From UET Lahore from 07-08-2008 to 13-08-2008 at Huawei Training Center.

    Experience in Pakistan Telecommunication Pvt Ltd.

    November 2001 to 28th February 2007.

    1)Five years experience in Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited in Transmission Operation and Maintenance in Optical Fiber System Region Islamabad as Technician in F-5/1 PTCL Exchange.

    Main Responsibilities

    Optical Fiber media testing and trouble shooting for long haul transmission and local transmission.
    Testing & trouble shooting of 2 M/bits to SDH 622 M/bits (STM1 to STM4) on Siemens (CTI) Equipment.
    PDH E3 (34) M/bits Level to 140 M/bits and 565 M/bits Level in Italtel and Fujitsu Equipments.
    Nortel DWDM 10 G/bits from STM1, STM4, STM16 to STM64 Level and operating Network Management System (NMS) of DWDM.
    Huawei STM 16 (2.5 G/bits) system.
    Data Nodes New Bridge DXX and Tellabs Data Nodes.
    PCM (Pulse Core Modulation).
    E1, E3 Loop/Break and BERT testing through digital Analyzer.

    Experience in Government Sector

    01st, August 2006 to 30th December 2006.

    Five Months experience in Ministry of Religious Affairs Zakat and USHR as Data Processing Assistant (DPA) in BPS-16 as a contract employee in Hajj Computer Section.

    Main Responsibilities

    To process all the data of Hajji’s manually and through the database software.
     To process the Passports of Hajji’s to Embassy for Visa purpose.
    All the official work of the Ministry Hajj computer cell section.

    Computer Skills

    ProgrammingC, C++, Java, Visual Basic, PHP
    EnvironmentsWindows 9X/2000/XP
    Diploma DIT, E-Commerce from Joher Institute of Information
    Technology.
    Projects

    Library Management System (Semester Project)
    Web Site (Semester Project)
    Automated Paper Marking System (Degree Project)

    Language Proficiency

    Excellent speaking and writing skills in both English and Urdu languages.