The company that we have all come to rely upon and love is undergoing a huge change, one that is to be greatly celebrated! Wataniya Telecom is now Ooredoo, a leading international company that operates in 14 countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia.

Bearing witness to this milestone is one of Ooredoo’s oldest employees, Adel AL-Abdulsalam, who joined the company in 2002. A Senior Technical Specialist, Value Added Service Support, Technology/Network Operation Center (NOC) – Technology Division, AL-Abdulsalam is always on the front line when it comes to dealing with customer’s requests and any technical challenges that they may face. He monitors the entire network for any issues or server problems, and takes first-level actions to resolve any customer service technical related issues. If need be, he goes above and beyond to make sure that customers are appropriately dealt with, escalating the matter to the operations department in order to effectively help the customer. Furthermore, AL-Abdulsalam has seen how the company’s networks have highly evolved throughout the years, ensuring that all of Ooredoo’s network systems are all up to par with the company’s goals and missions. For that reason, he is also responsible for the integration and testing of all network elements to the centralized fault management system, as well as maintaining the current system.

Adel, let’s start by talking about the rebranding of the company you work in. Wataniya Telecom is now officially Ooredoo. Congratulations! How does this change impact your job?

My colleagues and I are very happy about the launch of the new brand name Ooredoo. It is an important milestone that we are extremely proud of. Ooredoo Kuwait is part of Ooredoo group, a leading international company that operates in 14 countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia. At Ooredoo, we thrive on being a community-oriented company with the vision for enriching people’s lives. We’re an integral part of this community in what we do and we are there to support its growth, to contribute to the social and economic development of the communities within Kuwait. This means we work hard in every division of our company to satisfy the needs of our customers. We put the customer experience at the heart of everything we do.

The name Ooredoo might sound quite strange to some people. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

Ooredoo’s beliefs are built upon three C’s: Caring, connecting, and challenging. We continuously work hard to not only achieve these core beliefs, but to also maintain and strengthen these beliefs. Our ultimate aim is to provide services that enrich people’s lives. In order to fulfill our promise of helping the community, we want to understand what matters to each of our customers and how they connect with us. Based on that, we are better equipped to help them grow as individuals, families and as a community. We will always be supportive, respectful and responsible. We want to collaboratively engage with customers by working together and becoming involved with Kuwait’s different communities. We will always look to improve ourselves and make a change. This is what makes us different than other telecommunication companies.

Being a young, passionate and motivated Kuwaiti, what opportunities does Ooredoo provide to young Kuwaitis?

Most young Kuwaiti graduates are very enthusiastic and ambitious. They want to achieve the best for themselves in their careers. With my personal experience at Ooredoo, I was given the opportunity to take responsibility of my role and grow within my field in the Technology Division. Ooredoo definitely sees potential in Kuwaiti youth and therefore provides them with job opportunities to excel in. Ooredoo’s vision of enriching people’s lives starts from within: by enriching the lives of its employees. I went through continuous training courses throughout my work at Ooredoo.

Aside from providing training for its employees, Ooredoo also believes in enriching the lives of the youth in the community. This comes in various forms, one of which is providing services that cater to their needs. Another way is by supporting youth initiatives, which the company has been keenly implementing since its establishment as Wataniya Telecom in 1999.

You have launched a teaser marketing campaign before announcing Ooredoo and called it Project O. You asked people of Kuwait to tell you what they want. What did you find? What do they want?

We launched this campaign to engage with people and get closer to them, and to get a better idea of what they want. From the answers they gave us, we found out that regardless of their various wants and needs, people actually want a network they can rely on. A reliable network would work as a backbone in supporting our customers in achieving what they want. So, at Ooredoo, that’s what we’re working hard to give them; a reliable network, impressive offers, and advanced devices and technologies to make their life easier.

For more information, you can visit their website www.ooredoo.com.kw , or follow them on Facebook and YouTube or Twitter and Instagram