Finnish vendor Nokia has achieved what it claims is a record indoor 5G speed in the Middle East, having registered a downlink rate of 1.9Gbps during a successful trial of its next-generation AirScale Indoor Radio System (ASiR) at the headquarters of mobile network operator (MNO) Zain Saudi Arabia (Zain KSA). In a press release regarding the development, it was noted that the trial had leveraged the Nokia 5G AirScale, which is an enhanced indoor solution with a centralised and scalable architecture. The speeds recorded were said to have been achieved at 3.5GHz ‘including multi-band ASiR-pRRH and with E-UTRAN New Radio – Dual Connectivity (EN-DC)’.
Commenting, Eng. Abdul Rahman AlMufadda, Zain KSA’s chief technical officer, 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, it is imperative for us to provide first class coverage for both indoor and outdoor environments. Nokia deployed its 5G indoor solution quickly, with minimal disruption and achieved incredibly high-speeds during this trial.’
Meanwhile, as part of the press release regarding the trial, it was also noted that the MNO’s 5G network now covers 50 cities across the Kingdom, enabled by more than 4,600 towers. As previously reported by CommsUpdate, the cellco launched commercial 5G services in October 2019, with the first phase of the rollout being implemented through a network of 2,000 towers that covered an area of more than 20 cities.