Middle East telecom giant signs deal with Turkish firm

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - The mobile telecommunication giant, Zain, has signed a $30 million partnership agreement with the Turkish car sharing company, YOYO, according to the Turkish firm on Wednesday.

YOYO said in a written statement the car sharing operator, which has at least 20,000 users, will now be open in the Middle East after signing the deal with the Kuwait-based telecom company, Zain.

YOYO will transfer service, infrastructure and technology to Middle East, including its software and hardware.

The Turkish company will reach 70 million Zain subscribers in Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Sudan and Iran, the statement said.

"We are proud of transferring technology as being a 100 percent Turkish capital firm. We did a $30-million partnership agreement with Middle East and Africa's telecom giant Zain.

“We believe that car sharing services are being adopted more day-by-day. For us, this is an excellent opportunity to spread to new markets such as Middle East," YOYO co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Berkman Cavusoglu said.

"We are thrilled to offer new work models to our customers and region and we look forward to seeing our Bahraini customers' trial of this service," Zain Group Chief Executive Officer Scott Gegenheimer said.

The agreement was signed in Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona from Feb. 27 to March 2.

Founded in 1983 as the Mobile Telecommunications Company in Kuwait, Zain describes itself as a leading mobile service operator since the group has commercial presence in eight Middle East and African countries.

Zain also says on its website the mobile telecommunication company is giving service to more than 45.2 million active individual and business customers as of June 30, 2016.