Zain Group has selected Huawei to accelerate the migration from 4G to 5G, including 5.5G innovation to enrich the customer experience across multiple markets.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) establishing the partnership was signed at the recently held Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The MoU aims to fast-track the introduction of new digital services across multiple Zain markets.
Present during the signing ceremony were Zain Group CTO Nawaf AlGharabally, Zain Group Network Director Mohammad AlMurshed, President of Huawei Wireless Product line Yangchaobin, President of Huawei Zain Group Key Account Rico Lin, Vice-President of Huawei Middle East Marketing and Solutions Vanness You, as well as executive management teams from both companies.
Within the scope of the MoU, Huawei will support Zain Group to optimise its network architecture to extend 5G capabilities to support IoT, Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications, uplink centric broadband, real-time broadband communication, harmonised communication, and sensing. The two entities will also work together to define autonomous driving network-level criteria and explore new use cases.
Nawaf Al-Gharabally, Zain Group CTO, said: “Zain aims to provide a seamless converged experience for customers on 5G. Therefore, Huawei’s network technologies will play a big part in user migration, 5.5G innovation, and intelligent network development fast-tracking the introduction of new digital services. Zain Group will work closely with Huawei to provide the required technologies that enable us to advance further AI and digital solutions that could immensely benefit our customers across multiple markets.”
Yangchaobin, President of Huawei Wireless Product line, said: “As a global ICT and network technologies provider, Huawei is committed to supporting Zain to achieve their strategy to provide a seamless converged experience for customers. In the past year, Zain ranked as number one in terms of 5G offload ratio and proved to be one of the leading telecom operators in the Middle East.”
“In the future, 5G needs to support multi-dimensional services such as AR/VR, cloud gaming, passive IoT, autonomous driving, etc. Therefore, both parties will need to pursue even deeper collaboration. In addition, Huawei’s autonomous driving network (ADN) capabilities support Zain to improve network efficiency and serve society more efficiently,” Yangchaobin added.
Zain Group is a leading ICT service provider in the Middle East and Africa region, launching commercial 5G services in 2019 in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and has since experienced rapid growth of 5G uptake.
For example, Zain Kuwait’s 5G data traffic already accounts for 46 per cent of its wireless traffic. It will likely become the first mobile operator in the MEA region with more active 5G traffic than 4G. Zain Saudi Arabia launched the largest 5G network in the region, covering 51 cities.
Zain aims to empower marginalised and disadvantaged communities by providing digital transformation solutions to create social and financial value. This will be achieved by ensuring inclusive access to connectivity, IoT, digitalisation of Zain’s core products and services, and the development of digital verticals.
In addition, Zain will work closely with Huawei to develop the application of new 5G services and intelligent networks to accelerate the digital transformation of the societies it serves.
