by James E. Carroll
Zain Group activated commercial 5G services in Saudi Arabia.
The first phase of the rollout covers a network of 2,000 towers in more than 20 cities in the Kingdom. Zain aims to cover a total of 26 Saudi cities utilizing 2,600 towers by the end of 2019.
Zain describes the launch as the largest 5G network deployment in the region to date. The carrier already has 5G operational in Kuwait.
Commenting on this significant milestone, Zain Vice Chairman & Group CEO, & Zain KSA Vice Chairman, Bader Al Kharafi said, “5G will bring substantial change for the Kingdom’s telecom industry, creating new business models and unlocking opportunities for many sectors such as financial, ICT, agricultural, tourism, entertainment, automotive, health, education and public sectors, to name a few. The technology is also expected to contribute significantly to the country’s economy, creating thousands of new jobs.”
Nokia wins 5G contract with Zain Saudi Arabia
Nokia announced a three-year deal with Zain Saudi Arabia to supply thousands of 5G sites across the country. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The deal introduces 5G using 2.6 GHz and 3.5 GHz, along with massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (mMIMO) to deliver enhanced network capacity, coverage, and improved downlink and uplink speeds. In addition, the deal will introduce E-Band microwave in certain areas to allow for ultra-high-capacity backhaul networks.
- Overview of the solution for the 5G deployment:
- Nokia AirScale radio platform
- Nokia 5G Anyhaul: Nokia Wavence’s E-band microwave radio with multi-frequency carrier aggregation will support multi-gigabit capacities and low-latency microwave transport
- Nokia NetGuard Security Management solution to ensure a highly secure 5G network
- Nokia Services: Full turnkey services including covering network planning, integration, implementation, project management, logistics and technical support
Nokia said it currently has 43 commercial 5G deals with operators around the world and is involved in more than 100 5G-related customer engagements.
Amr K. El Leithy, head of the Middle East and Africa market at Nokia, said: “This contract, which includes 5G RAN, backhaul, security and services, demonstrates the breadth of our full-portfolio strengths and depth of global expertise in deploying these next-generation projects.”
Zain now serves 50 million customers in Middle East & Africa
Zain Group, which delivers mobile services in eight markets across the Middle East and Africa, reached the 50 million customer milestone as of the end of Q1 2019, reflecting a 6% increase year-on-year (Y-o-Y). Zain Group generated consolidated revenues of KD 404 million (USD 1.33 billion) for the first quarter of 2019, up 56% compared to the same period in 2018. EBITDA for the quarter reached KD 178 million (USD 586 million), up 111% Y-o-Y, reflecting…
Zain tests massive MIMO on TD-LTE using 2.6 GHz with Nokia
Zain KSA is testing a massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) pilot in the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on its TD-LTE network using 2.6 GHz spectrum. The pilot uses Nokia’s 5G-ready AirScale massive MIMO antenna for 4.9G calls to improve network capacity to provide speeds of above 700 Mbps per user. Massive MIMO uses 64-Transmit-64-Receive (64T64R), which allows gigabit-level throughput. Nokia said its 5G-ready AirScale massive MIMO antenna…
Zain Saudi Arabia tests NB-IoT
Zain Saudi Arabia is te
