Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 34 | Page 54

COUNTRY FOCUS: QATAR “ WITH THE SUPER SPEEDS THAT WE ARE TESTING, OUR COUNTRY WILL BE ABLE TO ENJOY THE LIFE- CHANGING BENEFITS OF THE INTERNET LIKE NEVER BEFORE. the 5G network when devices become available. With the super speeds that we are testing, our country will be able to enjoy the life-changing benefits of the Internet like never before.” To enable customers to see Ooredoo’s 5G roll- out progress, the company has added a 5G coverage tab to its Supernet coverage map. Customers can now see 5G live areas at www. ooredoo.qa/portal/OoredooQatar/supernet The company has encouraged people to continue to check coverage growth in the coming months. As well as connection speeds, Ooredoo’s 5G network roll-out will have a hugely positive impact on many business sectors and organisations in Qatar, as 5G will enable new types of applications like driverless cars and smart roads, the connection of millions of low powered connected devices, augmented reality and much more. At the event, Edge Video Orchestration allowed visitors to access live video streams of the game from different angles. As part of the solution, four 360-degree cameras were installed at various locations on the football pitch to capture action from multiple viewing angles. These cameras transmitted live video streaming of the game to the consumer devices enhancing the viewing experience. MEC allows applications to be hosted closer to the edge of the network, therefore closer to subscribers, to efficiently use network resources and open up new opportunities for the delivery of compelling, tailored services in high-traffic locations. With this technology, video feeds can be efficiently broadcast to multiple subscribers’ devices simultaneously with millisecond latency. The Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) solution enabled remote viewers to attend the match as if they were present in the stadium. In the future of digital venues, this solution will enable sports venues to serve their fans globally, by extending live views and data to fans, allowing them to join in the events virtually from remote locations around the world. Al Sayed said: “With Khalifa International Stadium set to host several World Cup 2022 matches, we believed the final of the Emir Cup was the perfect opportunity to showcase this state-of-the-art technology to the world, which in the very near future will be run seamlessly on the Ooredoo 5G network.” Finally, the augmented reality (AR) based navigation solution helped visitors to navigate and access different locations inside the ground by combining a live view of the stadium with additional computer-generated elements rendered into the mobile device’s display. The Potential of 5G demonstrated at cup final To demonstrate the potential of Ooredoo’s 5G technology, the company successfully showcased three futuristic applications designed to enhance the overall experience for selected spectators at Khalifa International Stadium during the final of the Emir Cup. The applications, which in future will solely run on the Ooredoo 5G network, included an engagement platform to provide robust real- time video streaming, an augmented reality venue engagement solution and immersive VR based on high-performance Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC solutions). 54 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com