NEWS
Nokia and Zain KSA deliver fastest indoor 5G speeds in the Middle East
Telecoms equipment vendor Nokia has announced that it has achieved a record 5G speed of 1.9 Gbps during a successful trial of its next-generation AirScale Indoor Radio System ( ASiR ) at the headquarters of mobile operator , Zain KSA in Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia . Nokia ’ s dedicated indoor 5G solution delivers ultra-fast 5G speeds and counters high penetration coverage losses .
The trial leveraged the Nokia 5G AirScale , which is an enhanced indoor solution with a centralised and scalable architecture . Zain KSA launched commercial 5G services in October 2019 in Saudi Arabia and now covers 50 cities across the kingdom enabled by more than 4,600 towers . Eng Abdul Rahman AlMufadda , CTO , Zain , said : “ In line with Zain KSA achieving a pioneering position in the regional and global telecoms map by rolling out the largest 5G network in the Middle East , Europe and Africa and fourth largest in the world . Nokia deployed its 5G indoor solution quickly , with minimal disruption and achieved incredibly high-speeds during this trial .”
Tommi Uitto , President of Mobile Networks at Nokia , said : “ We are delighted to support Zain by providing 5G indoor coverage at its premises in Jeddah .”
Nokia and stc launch Technology Innovation Centre to stimulate invention
Telecoms equipment vendor Nokia and
Saudi-based telco stc , have announced a joint collaboration to operate stc ’ s Technology Innovation Centre in Riyadh . An agreement was signed by Abdullah Alowini , VP , Technology Strategy and Architecture at stc and Khalid Hussain , Saudi Country Senior Officer at Nokia , in the presence of Haitham Al Faraj , SVP , Technology and Operations at stc and Amr K . El Leithy , Head , Middle East and Africa Market at Nokia .
According to the two companies , the fiveyear project will see Nokia carry out several programmes to help stc develop at least four truly innovative use cases every year to support stc ’ s business goals .
Under the partnership , Nokia will also raise stc engineers ’ capabilities to develop an entrepreneurial mindset that will help them build use cases in line with unique requirements of Saudi Arabia .
Alowini said : “ We are committed to providing the latest products and services as this is a crucial initiative in this direction . The innovation centre will develop path-breaking use cases that will improve the lives of the people and contribute to the economic and social development of Saudi Arabia in line with Saudi Vision 2030 . We are confident that this programme , in collaboration with Nokia , will help us in developing local content and innovative use cases to improve the quality of lives of our people .”
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