New Financial, Procurement and Human Resources Systems Reduce Cycle Times By 20-70 Percent For Telecoms Leader

Amman, Jordan, 16 February, 2005 - Jordan Mobile Telephone Services Company "Fastlink", one of the Middle East's fastest-growing telecoms operators, has completed an Oracle-based initiative to automate a number of its key business processes, including accounting and financials, procurement, inventory, and human resources by deploying the Oracle E-Business Suite of business applications. Fastlink officials estimate that the new system is enabling the company to close its books 25% faster and reduce procurement cycle time by up to 25%, while introducing automation levels of up to 70% in areas such as payroll and expenses.

Within the last 12 months, Fastlink has deployed elements of Oracle E-Business Suite in a two-phase project to transform the way that it manages financial reporting, purchasing, order management, recruiting, and employee training and self-service. The new environment is based on the Oracle technology platform, including the Oracle Database and Oracle Application Server, which also power Fastlink's online portal used to update the company's more than 1 million subscribers.

"As Fastlink is now marking the tenth year since our establishment, we took a decision to simplify, standardize and automate a number of key internal processes in order to reduce our operational costs and give Fastlink's management a single, consolidated view of our finances and staff resources," stated Omar Said, CFO, Fastlink. "At the same time, Fastlink needed a robust, scalable online portal to communicate information, including new services, to our growing customer base. The Oracle technology platform and Oracle E-Business Suite provided one ideal, integrated solution to meet these needs.

"Jordan's telecommunications sector is becoming increasingly competitive, and in addition to acquiring, delighting and acquiring customers, Fastlink is determined to maintain our market leadership in part by driving greater efficiencies throughout our back-office processes. In the few months since we completed our Oracle E-Business Suite deployment, our financial closings are happening up to 25% faster, and automation levels around procurement, order management, and human resources are exceeding 50%, all of which makes a considerable impact on Fastlink's bottom line."

On the other hand, Ehab Hafez, ERP Manager and Project Leader, Fastlink,, commented on Fastlink migration from Microsoft to Oracle by saying: " The powerful functionality in Oracle to handle the Procurement, Budgeting, Workflow, Date-Track in HR in addition to extended capabilities to accommodate up to 30 accounting segments in Financials were some of the good reasons we moved from Microsoft Great Plains to Oracle E-Business Suite 11i."

Integration, Analysis Boost Fastlink Performance

Fastlink also cites the integration of its disparate systems and processes as a major benefit of the Oracle technology and application deployment. The company has now unified its previously fragmented IT environment and created a single data model that is continuously updated, so that Fastlink's decision-makers have a constant perspective on the up-to-the-minute financial health of the organization.

The human resources component of the project has enabled Fastlink to automate recruitment, compensation, payroll and training of its more than 1000-strong, primarily Jordanian workforce. Fastlink's new self-service environment empowers its staff to maintain their own profiles and expenses, while directors can conduct performance reviews and manage holiday and expense approvals online. The unified HR system gives Fastlink's management a current view of its staff competencies.

Using Oracle's business intelligence offerings, Fastlink can now further analyze the vast customer and billing data stores it has built over its decade of operation to determine subscriber trends and tailor new services that meet those requirements. The entire Fastlink implementation, which was achieved in less than 12 months, was managed by the telecom provider's internal technology team, with input from Oracle Consulting.

"In the space of less than a year, Fastlink has embarked on a long-term path to comprehensive enterprise intelligence, delivering for its management a true 360-degree view of the company's finances, human resources, inventory, and other key processes," commented Husam Dajani, Vice President, Oracle Middle East and Africa. "Fastlink is already realizing the efficiencies and shorter cycle times that such a project delivers, and is building the foundations for future cost savings and growth."

This latest project with Fastlink complements Oracle Middle East's leadership in the region's telecommunications sector. Leading providers such as Wataniya Telecom, Syriatel, Saudi Telecom, Q-Tel and Telecom Egypt rely on Oracle solutions to run their organizations more reliably and cost-effectively.

About Oracle

Oracle Corporation is the world's largest enterprise software company. For more information about Oracle in the Middle East, please visit our web site at www.oracle.com/me or contact Aly Rifaah on +9714 390 9000.

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