Nokia and Saudi operator Zain expanded their 5G partnership by deploying 60,000 units of the vendor’s FastMile 5G Gateway wireless broadband hub with eSIMs, across Saudi Arabia over the next 12 months.
In a statement, the Finnish company said through the boosted connectivity provided by the gateways, Zain is enabled to support smart home and office adoption in the country, and also boosts connectivity for smart devices through 5G and WiFi 6.
Nokia said the deployment is the first time eSIM will be used in a 5G fixed wireless access solution. The gateways will utilise the vendor’s WiFi 6 solution to provide real time WiFi performance optimisation, it also ensures quicker set-up by removing the process of installing physical SIM cards.
Abdul Rahman bin Hamad Al-Mufadda, Zain KSA CTO said the deployment aligns with the operator’s digital transformation plans and 5G expansion in Saudi Arabia.
“Our mission from the start was to strengthen the 5G experience in the Kingdom into two levels: horizontally, concerned with spreading the 5G network across the largest possible geographical scale. Vertically, through 5G fixed wireless access solutions to enable homes and offices with the best and most reliable broadband experience available.”
Sandra Motley, Nokia fixed networks division president added “Zain KSA is joining the leading operators around the world, in providing the 5G fixed wireless access to deliver a gigabit experience to consumers and businesses alike.”
Nokia and Zain recorded indoor 5G download speeds up to 1.9Gbps in tests held in December.