Zain Provides Yarmouk University Students with Free WiFi Service

Contributing to an increased penetration rate of internet users in Jordan

Amman, February 28, 2008; Zain, part of the Zain group, the leading mobile telecommunications provider in the Middle East and Africa, signed an agreement with Yarmouk University by which the company provides the University with free WiFi service to be accessed throughout the university campus. With this agreement, Zain will become the first company to offer free WiFi services to any given university in Jordan.

As part of the company's strategy to support projects that contribute to enhancing the education in Jordan, Zain will expand its free of charge service to all universities in Jordan in the near future. This will also contribute to increasing the penetration rate of internet users in Jordan, in support of His Majesty King Abdullah's vision of spreading a knowledge based economy within the country.

The agreement was signed by Zain's CEO Saad Nasir and Professor Mohammad Abu-Qudais, President of Yarmouk University.

Nasir said that the initiative reflects Zain's ongoing efforts to support the youth and the education sector in Jordan in an aim to encourage learning and facilitates access to knowledge. He added that this will be the first university to sign with Zain, with other Jordanian universities to follow suit in the near future.

The Zain WiFi service will allow the students at Al Yarmouk University, who are around 30,000, the chance to connect through wireless network via laptops or through mobile phones through the WiFi enabled option. The service will be available to both students and staff and will provide open access to all with no site restriction. Said service can be accessed in and outside classrooms and will present an addition to the wired internet service currently offered at the university.

Zain will also provide the required infrastructure needed to make the WiFi system available to all students. With this service, students will enjoy better and stronger, flexible service which they can use for the needs of researching and internet browsing.

The service is complimentary to the Laptop "Notebook" for every university student initiative adopted by the university through which it will be distributing around 4000 laptops to university students under special payment arrangements. This is will also contribute to increasing the penetration rate of internet users in Jordan, supporting the vision to have a knowledge based economy.

Yarmouk University President Mohammad Abu-Qudais commended Zain's efforts in providing free WiFi access for students, adding that this initiative has consolidated the university's project of "Laptop "Notebook" for every university student initiative" launched through the ministry of Information and Communication Technology. Abu Qudais addeds that this service meets the university's goals that aim to provide the best services to its students, and facilitating research and educational methods in a way that would decrease both time and effort.

Zain is very active in supporting projects in the field of education. The company provides several corporate initiatives related to the development of the educational sector, the most salient being the Zain Education Fund, which offers 42 yearly university scholarships for under-privileged excelling students. The company also established several community digital centers in Maan, Al Baqaa Camp, Wihdat, and Karak, which aims at developing human resources through enhancing Information and communication skills for the trainees of these communities.