Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 58 | Page 16

NEWS Ooredoo Qatar goes live with 5G commercial services using Nokia cloud-native core network Finland-based telecoms kit vendor, Nokia, has announced that Ooredoo Qatar has launched a Nokia-powered cloud-native core network for commercial 5G services, allowing the operator to provide superior mobile broadband services to its roughly two million subscribers in the Gulf state. The new core network facilitates automation for improved network efficiency and streamlined network management. In addition, the transformation of the core network also enables Ooredoo Qatar to bring new and exciting use cases such as Industrial IoT (IIoT), Voice-over-Broadband (VoBB), Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi) to its subscribers. According to the telco, Nokia’s equipment and professional services will help Ooredoo Qatar to scale its network more efficiently with automated operations and enhanced robustness. Yousuf Abdulla Al Kubaisi, Chief Operating Officer, Ooredoo Qatar, said: “We are delighted to reach this milestone by launching the state-of-the-art cloud-native 5G core network with Nokia for carrying 5G commercial services. Collaboration with Nokia, a global technology leader, will help us in providing low-latency, high-speed and content-rich services to our subscribers. This project is testament to our commitment to bringing the latest technology to our subscribers, in line with our goal of complete customer satisfaction, and reiterates our leadership position in the global 5G ecosystem.” Datacentrix to help Qatar Ministry of Transport and Communications to drive government digitalisation Datacentrix, a high performing and secure ICT solutions provider, has revealed that it has partnered with the Qatar Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC), to build a Digital Centre of Excellence that will define guidelines, policies and processes to direct all local government agencies in the digitisation of content, information and services. The South Africa-headquartered solutions provider, is currently implementing two projects with the MoTC, which include the delivery of a shared service platform offering ratification and validation services to government and corporates in Qatar and the formulation of a quality assurance policy framework. Shakeel Jhazbhay, General Manager: Digital Business Solutions at Datacentrix, explained that the first project, called Tasdeeq, is the provision of a collaborative, encrypted environment for government, organisations and individuals to interact for the secure online verification and authentication of documents. “Essentially, the Tasdeeq portal is a citizen documents ‘vault’, which allows Qatar’s residents to quickly and easily access archived documentation in a secure manner. “Not only does this reduce the opportunity for forgery, it also ensures that less time is spent on in-person visits to government agencies for document verification. “When it comes to personal identification verification, Tasdeeq requires that users enter their credentials in the national identification system,” Jhazbhay said. Shakeel Jhazbhay, General Manager: Digital Business Solutions, Datacentrix 16 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com