Zain
Kuwaiti telecom group, founded in 1983 as MTC, running mobile, data, fintech and enterprise ICT businesses across eight Middle East and Africa markets. It reported 51.9 million customers and 2025 revenue of USD 7.44 billion.
Industry: Mobile telecommunications | Location: Kuwait City, Kuwait | Founded: 1983
About Zain
Zain Group is a telecommunications company based in Kuwait that provides mobile voice and data, fintech, enterprise ICT and digital services. Its shares trade under the ticker ZAIN. It says it operates in eight markets across the Middle East and Africa, including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain, Sudan and South Sudan, and holds a 15.5 percent stake in Morocco's INWI. It served 51.9 million active customers on 30 June 2026.
Zain began in Kuwait in 1983 as the region's first mobile operator, under the name Mobile Telecommunications Company, began regional expansion in 2003 and adopted the Zain brand in 2007. Bader Al-Kharafi has been vice chairman since 2014 and group chief executive since 2017, and Ossama Matta has been group chief financial officer since 2010.
The group runs 5G networks in four markets and described Kuwait as among the first countries to deploy 5G Advanced commercially. Its fintech brands, including Bede, Tamam and Zain Cash, have a combined customer base above 6.4 million. Other units are ZainTECH, its enterprise digital business, which says it serves more than 1,600 organisations and government customers and has operations in eight countries including Egypt. It also runs Zain Ventures and Zain Omantel International, a wholesale joint venture with Omantel.
In 2026 Zain made a USD 747 million winning bid for a 75 percent interest in a Syrian telecom entity with a 25-year licence, and plans to launch the Zain brand in Syria in the first quarter of 2027. On 22 October 2026 Zain and Ooredoo announced the first closing of a regional tower platform, in which each holds 50 percent, combining the tower portfolios of Zain Kuwait and Ooredoo Qatar, about 4,000 towers in all.
For 2025 Zain reported revenue of KD 2.3 billion (USD 7.44 billion), up 14 percent, and net income of KD 239 million (USD 777 million). In the first half of 2026 revenue rose 5 percent to KD 1.14 billion (USD 3.71 billion) and net income rose 73 percent to KD 220 million (USD 717 million), including USD 411 million of gains from investments made through Zain Ventures.
Leadership
- Bader Al-Kharafi, Vice Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer
- Ossama Matta, Group Chief Financial Officer
- Mohammad Al-Marshed, Group Chief Technology Officer
- Malek Hammoud, Chief Investment and Digital Transformation Officer
- Saad AlSadhan, Chief Executive Officer, Zain KSA
- Nawaf Al-Gharabally, Chief Executive Officer, Zain Kuwait
- Emre Gurkan, Chief Executive Officer, Zain Iraq
- Andrew Hanna, Chief Executive Officer, ZainTECH
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