Thuraya renews corporate identity

Dubai: Thuraya, one of the world's leading satellite-based mobile phone service providers, has launched a new corporate identity at Gitex that reflects its desire to embrace change and to boost its market presence.

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"The strategy is to focus more on vertical markets and vie for corporate and government sectors as we see a huge growth potential. Before we were focusing more on individual and mobile customers," Thuraya's chief executive officer Yousuf Al Sayed said.

"We have developed a new image that will support our expansion into new market segments. Our new identity is inherently robust and scalable to reflect its use across the diverse markets and geographies in which we operate.

"China and Australia are huge markets for us and we will be concentrating more on China," Al Sayed said.

New offering

The operator has also launched a new and robust satellite phone — Thuraya XT — coined as the world's toughest satellite handheld phone and Thuraya IP terminal to provide faster browsing and data transmission through its performance enhancing proxy service.

"The phone is designed to IP54/IK03 telecom standards, which is a globally recognised standard from the International Electrotechnical Commission. It is water-resistant, dust- and shock-proof. It is made of poly-carbon with hard rubber. Apart from the main features, the phone has a batter life of six hours talk-time and about 80 hours standby time and it has a glare-resistant display," Ali Al Mazroui, chief technology officer at Thuraya, said.

Dr Sven Rohte, Thuraya's chief commercial officer, said the company enjoys a a market share of between 65-70 per cent and, with the launch of new products, it expected that share to grow.

Yousuf said the firm's market share in the government sector was around 10 per cent, but added it was difficult to assess the figure among corporates as they were blended with horizontal markets.

The company had a presence in more than 140 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and Africa with two satellites, he said, adding the company provided a series of tailor-made solutions to meet the needs of the military, government, NGOs, broadcast media and other sectors.