Beirut, February 17, 2023: touch is pleased to announce that its Chairman and CEO, Eng. Salem Itani, has won the “the Telecommunications CEO of the Year 2023” award at the Global Banking and Finance Awards® 2023, which celebrates professional and institutional excellence and honors individuals that had a positive impact on the performance of their institutions and the sector in which they work.
This award, which represents a global distinction for the telecommunications sector in Lebanon, comes as a recognition of the achievements of Eng. Salem Itani during the difficult phase that the country is going through since he took over the management of touch and with the limited resources. Whereby, and with the cooperation of the Ministry of Telecommunications, he developed a comprehensive strategic plan that improved the network availability by reaching one of the highest levels as per the mature Mobile Operators worldwide, and led to great enhancements of the customers’ “Quality of Experience (QoE) from “Average” to “Excellent” levels as per the International norms as well as quality of voice and data services.
Furthermore, he adopted innovative solutions for the customer contact and service center through the launch of the partnership and cooperation program between touch and the universities.
To re-catch on Technology level after investment stoppage for about three years, Mr. Itani ensured cloud readiness and live 5G technology commercial pilot reaching close to 2 Gbps as download speed, a competitive result compared with mature Mobile Operators worldwide.
Commenting on the award, Itani said: “I am honored to win the award for Telecommunications CEO of the Year within the Global Banking and Finance Awards® for the year 2023, and I would like to dedicate this award to the touch team from the executive management to all employees of touch family, in appreciation of their essential role in realizing those achievements.
Our work as one cohesive team contributed to keeping touch in the leading position in the mobile telecommunications sector, by acquiring the largest percentage of the total number of mobile telecommunications and data users in Lebanon. We also succeeded in overcoming all the obstacles that aggravated with Lebanon’s difficult economic crisis, while optimizing our technical capabilities in terms of network quality for both voice and data services, in line with the aspirations of our customers.”
Itani added, "Such appreciation awards increase our determination to continue modernizing our services and improving their quality, because we are aware of the importance of developing this sector and its vital role in the daily life of individuals on the one hand to stay in constant contact with their families and friends, and on the other hand for the productive, health, educational, financial and all operating sectors to ensure their work is completed quickly and smoothly”.
The “Global Banking and Finance Review” magazine awards reflect the distinguished levels of innovation, achievement, advanced strategy and inspiring changes taking place in various business sectors, including banks and financial institutions, awards for foreign exchange services, insurance, corporate governance, brokerage and exchange, investment management, technology, management Assets and Wealth, Corporate Sustainability, and other awards. The awards are granted to operating institutions of all sizes according to a number of strict criteria that evaluate their achievements and efforts in their field of work.