Page 35 - SAMENA Trends - January 2021

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Zain Saudi Deploys 2nd Phase Of 5G Network

Zain KSA, one of the leading telecom its 5G rollout in the Kingdom, the provider of network planning, testing, performance and
operators in the Middle East region, Middle East, Europe, and Africa, and application control solutions for that mission. Leveraging
is deploying the second phase of fourth globally. It is also recognized crowdsourced dataset, including a large volume of social
its 5G network in the Kingdom of by ICT government authorities media data, for traffic map creation, Infovista radio
Saudi Arabia (KSA) using Infovista as the number one operator for planning solution helped Zain KSA reach an unmatched
radio planning portfolio. In line with covering all Saudi’s administrative level of accuracy when it comes to precise planning for
Saudi Vision 2030 and in order to regions, having the largest 5G densification in order to successfully introduce 5G in new
support the comprehensive digital reach within governorates, and cities of the Kingdom. As a result, Zain KSA maximized
transformation of the Kingdom, the covering to date 50 cities enabled and accelerated the deployment of its innovative 5G
plan for the spread and geographic by more than 4,700 towers. This network. Abdulrahman Al-Mufadda, Chief Technology
expansion of Zain KSA’s 5G network high level of commitment drove Officer at Zain KSA, said: “As we accelerate the rollout of
aims to deliver the new 5G services Zain KSA to select best of breed 5G services in the country with new cities being covered,
to every corner in Saudi Arabia. technologies. In order to optimize we want to ensure we deliver best-in-class experience in
Consequently, Zain KSA rolled out and roll-out its second phase of the location of our customers and to better serve them.
its 5G network in its first phase on 5G network at a fast pace, where As well as provide residents and citizens alike with tools
Oct 2019, and was ranked first in it selected Infovista, the leading for innovation and development that will benefit the
diversification and the competitiveness of the national
economy.” Faiq Khan, Managing Director, East Europe, Asia
and Africa at Infovista said: “We are committed to helping
Zain KSA deliver in its second phase the incomparable
5G experience to its customers throughout the entire
Kingdom. Our innovative, market-leading radio planning
software and optimization solution aims to support the
fast and complete deployment of Zain KSA’s 5G network
as well as help Zain KSA in creating a paradigm shift in
the telecommunications infrastructure by leveraging
network automation capabilities.” To reliably provide the
best subscriber performance, capacity and coverage,
Zain KSA benefits from the Infovista advanced End-
to-End 5G planning capabilities, which covers radio to
transmission in a synchronized and automated way.
Infovista is a leader in modern network performance,
providing complete visibility and unprecedented control
over modern networks and their applications.

Nokia, Zain KSA Expand 5G Strategic Partnership

Nokia and Zain Saudi Arabia have card. Nokia claims the deployment is ‘the geographical scale. Vertically, through
announced an expansion of their strategic first time eSIM has been used in a 5G 5G fixed wireless access solutions to
5G partnership with the rollout of 60,000 fixed-wireless access solution’. Eng. Abdul enable homes and offices with the best
FastMile 5G Gateway 3.1 with eSIM Rahman bin Hamad AlMufadda, CTO at and most reliable broadband experience
across Saudi Arabia over the next twelve Zain KSA, said: ‘Rolling out our new 5G available. In alignment with Saudi Vision
months. Nokia FastMile 5G gateways fixed wireless access routers comes in 2030 we will continue to invest further to
take advantage of the company’s self- line with our digital transformation and 5G enable the digital sector and the national
optimizing mesh Wi-Fi 6 solution for real expansion strategy reiterating our role in digital transformation namely through:
time Wi-Fi performance optimization. The serving the Kingdom’s society. Our mission cloud computing, IoT, and AI; while
gateways ensure a quicker and easier from the start was to strengthen the 5G simultaneously aiming to become the
account setup by using eSIM technology experience in the Kingdom into two levels: digital service provider of choice in the
that allows users to avoid the process of horizontally, concerned with spreading the Kingdom.’
acquiring and installing a physical SIM 5G network across the largest possible

35 JANUARY 2021