Accra/Dar es Salaam/Kampala/Johannesburg/Kinshasa/Lagos/Nairobi, 7 October 2008: The biggest radio hits of the year are to be recognised with a dedicated award category at the MTV Africa Music Awards with Zain (MAMA).  Starting 13 October, MTV and FM radio stations in the DRC, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda will be asking listeners to pick the nominees for the prestigious Listener’s Choice Award, reflecting the tracks and artists who triumphed on the radio airwaves in 2007/8.

Listen out for the special Listener’s Choice promos and tracks on RTGA FM (DRC), Joy FM (Ghana), Capital FM (Kenya), Kiss FM (Kenya), Cool FM (Nigeria), 5fm (South Africa), Clouds FM (Tanzania), Sanyu FM (Uganda) and KFM (Uganda) to review a shorlist of each region’s 10 biggest radio hits of the year.   Pick your all-time favourite radio star and they could soon be walking down the red carpet at the MTV Africa Music Awards with Zain in Abuja, Nigeria on 22 November.

Commented Alex Okosi, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, MTV Networks Africa, ‘No African music award ceremony can or should ignore the value of radio to African music fans.  Not all music fans get to see music videos on TV, so we’ve created a special MTV Africa Music Award to reward and recognise the stars who have made the biggest impact on radio on the Continent.’

To vote for the radio tracks that rocked your world in 2007/8, music fans in DRC, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda should listen out for the special MAMA Listener’s Choice slots between 13-20 October 2008.  Fans from all mobile networks are eligible to vote by sending the keyword ‘MAMA’, the artist’s name and the title of the song to the relevant shortcodes: DRC - 4444 (text/SMS messages cost $0.20); Ghana – 1778 (text/SMS messages cost Gp 50); Kenya - 2929 (text/SMS messages cost KShs 10); Nigeria – 33004 (text/SMS messages cost N50); South Africa – 33007 (text/SMS messages cost R1.50); Tanzania - 15555 (text/SMS messages cost Tsh 500); Uganda – 7197 (text/SMS messages cost Ugx 220).

The MTV Africa Music Awards consist of 13 separate award categories.  Nominations for Listener’s Choice Award will be chosen by radio audiences across Africa and revealed on 27 October 2008.  No nominations will be published for the MAMA Legend award, which is chosen at the discretion of MTV.  Nominations for the My Video award are submitted by members of the public and can be viewed and submitted at mama.mtvbase.com.

MTV Networks Africa is a pan-African music and entertainment platform which is responsible for broadcasting Viacom music, kids and entertainment channels in sub-Saharan Africa.  The network distributes MTV, VH1, MTV base and Nickelodeon.  Part of MTVNI’s Emerging Markets group, MTV Networks Africa reaches in excess of 50 million TV viewers in sub-Saharan Africa via a combination of pay-tv and terrestrial distribution.  The network also includes the dynamic online portal www.mtvbase.com.

MTVNI’s Emerging Markets group is one of the fastest growing regions in MTVNI’s portfolio of multi-platform businesses. The Emerging Markets group manages 26 television channels, 24 websites, one broadband channel and three mobile TV channels encompassing the MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, VIVA and Comedy Central brands in Central & Eastern Europe, Russia, Africa and the Middle East. MTVNI is owned by Viacom Inc (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B).

Zain is a leading emerging markets player in the field of telecommunications aiming to become one of the top ten mobile groups in the world by 2011.  Zain was established in 1983 in Kuwait as the region’s first mobile operator. Since 2003, it has grown significantly becoming the 4th largest telecommunications company in the world in terms of geographic presence with a footprint in 22 countries spread across the Middle East and Africa providing mobile voice and data services to over 50  million active customers (as at 30 June  2008). In Africa Zain operates in Burkina Faso, Chad, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Zain’s mobile network in Ghana is scheduled to start operations in 2008.

The Zain brand is wholly owned by Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC, which is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (Stock ticker: ZAIN). The company had a market capitalization of over US$ 25.8 billion on 30 June 2008.  For more information please visit www.zain.com.