Waleed al-Sayed, chief executive officer of Ooredoo Qatar, has been named “Telecoms CEO of the Year” at the CEO Middle East Awards.
The ceremony, held in Dubai on Monday night, was attended by some of the Gulf’s top executives.
The annual awards seek to recognise and reward outstanding success, innovation and ethics across the region.
Al-Sayed received the award in recognition of the “remarkable impact he has made since being named CEO of Ooredoo Qatar and deputy CEO of Ooredoo Group in November 2015”, the company said in a press statement.
In Qatar, Ooredoo successfully expanded its revenue share of the market to 72.2% in the first quarter of 2016 and secured 3.4mn customers by the end of H1 2016, the statement noted.
The company has pursued network leadership in Qatar, completing a major Supernet upgrade by adding the new Category 9 LTE-Advanced standard to its mobile network and beginning work on Qatar’s first 5G research and development centre.
“Ooredoo is determined to deliver the very best for people in Qatar, in terms of the most advanced network and most innovative digital services,” said al-Sayed. “We will continue to sharpen our operations in every area, so that our customers can be confident they will receive the highest standard of service from us.
“This award reflects the progress we have made so far and also encourages us to continue to strive to deliver for the people of Qatar.”
Other key milestones for Ooredoo Qatar in 2016 include the commercial launch of the Voice over LTE (VoLTE) network and the introduction of 1Gbps Fibre.
In addition, Ooredoo has announced a vision to be the leading integrated ICT provider in Qatar and the region, aiming to fully transform its offering for businesses and government institutions.
To accomplish this vision, Ooredoo is becoming an “ICT innovation engine” for Qatar, building “best-in-class capabilities in-house while engaging with an ecosystem of world-leading innovative partners”, the statement adds.
To support this objective, Ooredoo is focusing on a range of smart technologies, including cloud technology, advanced mobile apps, smart cities, smart stadium and smart home solutions.
The goal is to fundamentally transform the depth and range of ICT services offered to organisations and enterprises in Qatar and the region.
Pushing for more digital and self-service methods, Ooredoo has also launched a Queue Management Solution this year, which enables customers to see the number of waiting customers at any Ooredoo shop and get a queue token before arriving, all delivered via the Ooredoo App.
Now in its 10th year, the CEO Middle East Awards recognise the best CEOs in 14 business categories.