Saudi Arabian carrier Zain KSA announced the expansion of its 5G network to cover all the Kingdom’s regions, after it has recently included Al-Jouf and the northern borders, the telco said in a release.
This expansion raises the company’s 5G network’s total coverage to 30 cities throughout the Kingdom.
Zain KSA’s CEO Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Deghaither reaffirmed the company’s commitment to supporting digital transformation across all the Kingdom’s regions, in line with Saudi Vision 2030 and in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC).
“We will see considerable changes in the behavior of individuals whose capabilities will be enhanced by the accessible and convenient functionalities of digital services, like the IoT, including the private sector, which will enhance the on-going digital transformation in various sectors, such as healthcare, digital entertainment, education, e-payments and more, in line with the Kingdom’s on-going digital transformation towards adopting smart technologies in order to provide a better quality of life,” the executive said.
Zain launched commercial 5G operations in Saudi Arabia in October 2019. In the initial deployment phase, the telco deployed 2,000 towers that covered an area of more than 20 cities across Saudi Arabia.
Zain Saudi Arabia ended 2019 with a total of 2,600 5G towers across 26 cities in the country.
In June 2019, Nokia had announced a three-year 5G deal with Zain in Saudi Arabia for the deployment of the latter’s 5G infrastructure. The deal stipulated the use of 2.6 GHz and 3.5 GHz, along with massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (massive MIMO) to deliver enhanced network capacity, coverage, and improved downlink and uplink speeds. Under the terms of the deal, Nokia said it will use E-Band microwave in certain areas to allow for ultra-high-capacity backhaul networks.
Rival carrier Saudi Telecom Company (STC) had officially launched 5G services in Saudi Arabia in June 2019. The company currently offers 5G services through 100MHz of spectrum in the 3.5GHz band.
Meanwhile, Mobiliy selected Finnish vendor Nokia for the deployment of its 5G network in the country.
Zain Group also announced the launch of its commercial 5G network in Bahrain at the end of June in partnership with Swedish vendor Ericsson.
Zain Vice-Chairman and Group CEO, Bader Al Kharafi said, “Zain Bahrain’s 5G launch demonstrates our continuous commitment to investing in digitalization and the latest technologies for the benefit of our customers and playing our key role in the Kingdom’s Economic Vision 2030.”
Zain Bahrain will be expanding 5G coverage across the Kingdom throughout 2020 and will continue to grow the 5G network in 2021.
Zain had also launched commercial 5G services in Kuwait during 2019.
