I love rain.

I am happy.

I’ve been to car dealerships today.

This video is an old favorite of mine and couldn’t stop thinking about it all day!

Yesterday at dinner, a friend mentioned that he heard something about a service at MTC where you can get a second number for your phone without changing your chip, and to make things better, you actually pick your number!

So today I called MTC at 107 and asked about the service, the lady told me to call another number, 2257777, so I did. I followed the instructions to the point where it said pick your number (a 6 digit number) and everytime I pick one its taken. The voice instructions said to check their website www.dizlee.com to see a list of numbers available.

So I check the website, tried to understand the whole concept better, and the first thing it said on their website when looking for information was -

• What is The 2nd Number Network?

It’s an easy and quick service for MTC-Vodafone customers who need a second mobile number without the hassle of purchasing another SIM card, where both numbers (the original and the 2nd Number) will be active at the same time should the user wants to (i.e. on the same mobile phone).

I thought to myself, this is nice!! So I looked up the numbers available and picked a number and went through with the whole thing to check it out. There is a 1.750 KD monthly charge for the service, so I figured its worth trying out!

……………………its useless!!!

To call or receive calls you have to call the 2257777 number everytime. Basically, its like an extension number at work!! People call the main number then call your 2nd number through that number, and same with you. To call anyone using the 2nd number, you have to call the main number, and then call any other number…..and even then, the number they receive on their phone is the main 2257777 number, and when you answer, a voice message asks you if you want to accept the call from the 6 digit number.

Soooo…..where’s the advantage?? and how does that relate to whatever they said on the website describing the service??

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Btw, off topic, MTC network still sucks big time!! Almost every call today has been dropped more than once, and not just me!

This is pretty cool and a very useful resource too!

Harvard Computer Science

Gotta love techonolgy!

*UPDATE* - After two hours and getting the network back, I couldn’t call any other MTC number, and surprisingly, I got an automated message from a company in French and English!! Couldn’t catch the name of the company, was hoping it was MTC’s new name, but couldn’t catch it no matter how many times I called to listen again!

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Yesterday and today alone, I had at least 10 dropped calls, which means that the line suddelny cuts off in the middle of the phone call!

I was talking to my friend, and the phone got disconnected, so I called him again and we were both complaining about how often that has been happening this week, and of course, the phone disconnected again so I had to call again!!

To make things worse, right now I cannot use my phone because of -

It has been this way for the past 30 mins (stayed for 2 hours) at least for both my wife’s phone and mine! Both of us use MTC.

This really is incredible from a company that is supposedly global by now and is getting into new markets day by day! This should not happen at all, for it to happen for a full week and then we get this “No Access to network” sign is just ridiculous!

If they are trying to fix the problem and therefore we are getting this sign, then the least they could do is send a message to suscribers telling them that they are facing technical problems and are expecting network problems at certain times!!

Good thing Im not in an emergency or else this would be a very serious matter!!

Anyone with Wataniya having problems?? I can’t call my friends and check.

More on the business theme that has been recurring the past couple of weeks.

Kuwait has been slowly in a decline compared to most other gulf countries, especially Qatar and Dubai, who have been taking giant strides in all aspects of urban development and economic planning. In education, many international universities and colleges opening in both countries, which will only benefit both places as time goes by. In medicine, most international institutions have been opening up in both countries. In business, there is a huge move towards both places, especially Dubai, and the latest move of Halliburton’s headquarters to Dubai is a perfect example.

Recently, there has been a new shift in business, from Qatar and Dubai INTO Kuwait.

In the past two weeks or so, three major deals have happened to Kuwaiti companies that need to be looked at in that perspective! The most famous and biggest one is the one I already talked about, Qtel’s takeover of Wataniya.

1. Wataniya Telecom -

Qtel bought 51% of Wataniya from Kipco group. For some reason the KSE website hasn’t updated the shareholders’ list yet, but the deal is definitely done and dusted.

2. Global Investment House -

Dubai Investments (DI) recently bought more than 10% of Global. This is also the reason that the ex-chairman Al-Noory left the company. He was about to retire anyway, so he offered to leave the board to make room for the representative from DI, which makes sense for everyone.

This is from the stock market -

بيانات الافصاح عن ملكية كبار المساهمين
النسبة المرهونة / طريقة المساهمة كبـــار المـســاهميـن / النســـبـة

المؤسسة العامة للتأمينات الاجتماعية / 8.96 %‏
طارق خالد الحميضي (وآخرين) / 8.942 %‏
مجموعة دبي للاستثمار / 10.18%‏

3. Agility -

The logistics giant, previously known as PWC, has also been in the news today. Apparently, Dubai Holding has been buying Agility stock from the market and has already collected more than 5% according to Al-Seyassah newspaper and other sources.

ومن ناحية اخرى علمت »السياسة« من مصادر مطلعة استحواذ شركة دبي القابضة التابعة لمجموعة الشيخ محمد بن راشد آل مكتوم لما نسبته 5 في المئة من اسهم شركة المخازن العمومية »اجيلتي« عن طريق عمليات شراء تجميعية قامت بها المحافظ الاستثمارية التابعة للشركة في السوقين المالي الكويتي والاماراتي.

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All this news is very good for shareholders and increases confidence in these stocks. Knowing that an institutional investor is coming in for a good portion of the company can only mean good things for the company.

The question is, why the sudden interest from other gulf countries into Kuwaiti companies?

Has the economic power shift grown that much?

It is true that Qtel, Dubai Holdings, and Dubai Investments have alot of government ownership and influence, so how does that affect the deals?

I think its a great deal for the buyers in all three deals, especially if there is a long term plan and the determination to make it happen. For example, if I was Dubai Investments, I would keep buying into Agility and try my best to take its headquarters to Dubai. If I was Agility on the other hand, I would also hope that Dubai wants me to come and base my business from there. In the past year alone, there have been so many hurdles put by either government or other (social competition) forces on Agility, it gets to the point where you think they really don’t want it to succeed!

Agility is a great example of how privatization should be done. Not so long ago, it was a government owned company with not much business except for warehouses. In years, the new management transformed it into a global leader in logistics, which benefitted the shareholders who got the share at 100 fils up to more than 4 KD two years ago! The move to Dubai will trully make it a powerhouse!

It is a good sign that these other gulf countries are investing in our companies, but what will be the long term effect for such deals?

What is it with us and cars?

A couple of new deals and an old one to show our relationship as Gulf countries and car manufacturers -

Kuwait firms agree buying Aston Martin stake
Two days ago, Investment Dar and Adeem Investment Co. agreed to buy a stake in Aston Martin (around 15-20%) for $772.6 million from Ford.

Bahrain buys into McLaren
A couple of months ago, Mumtalakat Holding Company, wholly owned by the Kingdom of Bahrain, agreed to buy a 30% stake in Formula One team McLaren.

This is the Kuwait Investment Authority stake in DaimlerChrysler (Mercedes)

I am currently having one of the worst days ever in terms of sleep!

I woke up Friday at around 1 pm …. and couldn’t sleep all night, and had alot of important things to do at work in the morning, so I just pulled an all-nighter for the first time since college, and went to work. Left work early at around 3 pm and went back home. Tried to stay up for a while and sleep as late as I could, but could only stay up till around 5:30 pm.

That would make me awake for 28 hours and a half!! That is probably the most Ive stayed awake ever.

I figured I will be dead tired and will wake up 12 hours or more later……but of course, no. I got up again at around 10:30! So after staying up for 28 hours and a half, I could only manage 5 hours of sleep!

This is very frustrating!

Im a big fan of fantasy football, for the English premier league as well as the Champions League. It is basically a game in which you pick any 11 players every week for your team. You get points according to their performance that week and it goes on the whole season.

Anyway, as you all know, the government has resigned and the positions are all available, so I was thinking, what would happen if we were to apply the fantasy gaming idea and have the choice to pick our own government ministers? BUT …. I dont want any politicians to be involved!

If you had the choice to pick a government purely out of actors...I dont care where or when they are from, they could be current US actors, old black and white Egyptian actors, anything you want…

1. رئيس الحكومة و رئيس مجلس الوزراء
2. وزارة الخارجية
3. وزارة الداخلية
4. وزارة المالية
5. وزارة الطاقة
6. وزارة التربية و التعليم العالي
7. وزارة الدفاع
8. وزارة العدل
9. وزارة المواصلات
10. وزارة الإعلام
11. وزارة الأوقاف
12. وزارة التخطيط
13. وزارة الشؤون
14. وزارة الاشغال

This has to be one of the funniest things I have seen on YouTube!

عائلة بندلي - Do you love me?

I never heard of these guys before … عائلة بندلي , and apparently this was shot in Kuwait in 1978!

I would love to know more information if any of you knows much! There is alot more of them on YouTube and its all great stuff!

I can’t get the song out of my head!

video on YouTube

I recommend you check out all the videos this person uploaded, really great stuff you cant get anywhere else on the net!

عليا حسين / الحمد لك

This second one is not as funny, but very very interesting! Check it out and compare it to our time! Just beautiful!

So today we all awoke on confirmation on the deal of the year, where Qtel bought 51% of Wataniya Telecom! They bought out KIPCO’s share in the company in a deal worth 1.1 billion KD.

Qtel is Qatar’s only telecom company. It was listed in 1998, and it provides local and international fixed telephone, mobile, Internet, data and cable television services….with no competition in Qatar! They also started a new telecom company in Oman called Nawras 2 years go, and have been growing since by acquiring companies in places like Singapore and Indonesia (and Kuwait now!)

Wataniya, on the other hand, has been in the market since 1999, and has been associated with the KIPCO group since they started it. Wataniya has a network in Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, the Maldives, and recently bought into a company that works in Saudi Arabia.

The deal is one of the biggest in the region’s history and could be the beginning of many more mergers and acquisitions n the all different sectors in the region.

I have criticized Wataniya more than once, mostly for their branding and marketing efforts. Their products seem to be excellent (I use W-net and it really is excellent!), but they definitely need to work on everything around the product! I had two surveys on the blog a year apart, the first was on August 2005 where I asked what you think “the best corporate brand in Kuwait” is, and Wataniya came in 5th place with 3%. The second was in October 2006 where the question was “Which company do you feel most proud of as a Kuwaiti?” , and Wataniya came in last place with 2 votes out of 129!!

This takeover, even thought done by a Qatari company, could help Wataniya’s branding if the new management actually cared about creating a true strong brand! I actually have high hopes!

Oh….and another example of Wataniya’s really bad marketing and PR is found on their website. The takeover happened at least 2 days ago, and the preparations must have been done months or at least weeks ago, yet they do not mention anything about being bought out! Qtel’s website on the other hand has it on the main page.

We’ll probably hear about the new management soon, and maybe some new plans?? We can hope!

Buyout press release