COUNTRY FOCUS: KSA
700MHz band spectrum acquired by STC. It
will increase STC network throughput in 4G/
LTE by up to 50% for smartphones.
In addition to the data-driven content access
speed delivered by LTE Advanced, subscribers
will benefit from extended coverage, much
longer battery life, and low-cost devices
enabled by the new cellular IoT technology,
NB-IoT. The digital transformation also sees
STC deploying Narrow Band-IoT (NB-IoT)
in RAN across its expanded network to
drive and support enterprise IoT Ecosystem
innovation and business opportunities. This
includes massive IoT applications for smart
city purposes, such as metering, parking
sensors and connected cars.
STC recently renewed and upgraded its
managed services contract with Ericsson.
In addition to existing network planning
and optimisation, network operations and
telecom field services, the contract now
includes field services efficiency, as well as
first and second line support.
Nasser Al Nasser, Group CEO at STC, said:
“At STC, our main goal is to ensure that the
country’s Saudi Vision 2030 ambitions are
met. We do that by always making sure we
offer our subscribers the latest innovative
technologies. LTE Advanced and NB-IoT are
exactly what we need to pave the way to 5G.”
STC has already deployed multiple 4G
layers across various frequencies (LTE 1800,
LTE 2300, and LTE 2100). Rafiah Ibrahim,
Head of Market Area Middle East and
Africa, Ericsson, said: “By making digital
transformation real and effective for STC
through 4G expansion, we will enable their
Zain Saudi Arabia and Nokia
collaborate to unlock potential
of local talent
N
okia and Zain Saudi Arabia
have signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) to work with
the country’s young talent to enable them
to innovate and develop applications and
services to serve local needs.
The collaboration is in line with Saudi
Arabia’s Vision 2030 which aims to
develop the country’s talent to diversify
economic capabilities as well as improve
services as per local requirements.
The creation of new services and
products will allow Zain to reiterate its
position as an innovative service provider
in the region.
As part of the programme, Nokia will
provide cloud computing and IT service
platforms with an open Application
Programming Interface (API) to allow
Saudi Arabia’s engineers to create new
products for the domestic market. The
local talent will gain a global perspective
by collaborating with a leading technology
firm of Nokia’s reputation.
Zain will play a paramount role in
incubating the creativity of the young
Saudi generation. Along with Nokia,
Zain shall nurture a multitude of local
opportunities and evolve them from
early conception phases until
commercial implementation.
This initiative is an integral part of Zain’s
advanced data centre strategy, and the
virtualisation and cloudification efforts to
build tomorrow’s networks now with young
Saudi engineers and software developers.
www.intelligentcio.com
customers to enjoy enriched experiences,
whether that means lightning speed video
and media access for subscribers, or IoT
business innovation and opportunities for
enterprises. Our partnership with STC shows
4G network evolution is already happening
and paving the way for 5G.” n
MoU signed by Rami Andraos, Head of Zain
Customer Business Team at Nokia (left), and
Sultan Abdulaziz AlDeghaither, COO, Zain
Saudi Arabia (right).
Eng. Sultan Abdulaziz AlDeghaither, Chief
Operations Officer, Zain Saudi Arabia, said:
“The nurturing of human capital is a key
aspect of Vision 2030, and we believe that
this collaboration with our strategic partner
Nokia will allow us to provide more and
better job opportunities for the kingdom’s
youth. Nokia is a well-recognised global
technology leader, especially in the IT and
cloud domain, and partnering with them
will provide a crucial opportunity for the
country’s youth to add to their skill sets in
keeping with the latest global trends.”
Ali Al Jitawi, head of the Zain Saudi
Arabia customer team at Nokia, said:
“We are honoured and pleased to work
with Zain in empowering the youth of the
country to create products more relevant
to subscribers. While we have already
deployed our Multi-access Edge Computing
to improve the Hajj pilgrimage experience
and are working with Zain to deploy
Internet of Things use cases toward digital
transformation, this special programme
marks the beginning of a new chapter in
Zain’s digital transformation journey.” n
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