During the 5G fixed wireless access panel organized by Telecom Review, Ali Jitawi, Customer Business, Team Head Zain, Nokia, and Abdulrahman AlMufadda, CTO, Zain KSA addressed the future of Saudi Arabia in terms of 5G, FTTH, and smart cities.
When Amer Mdanat, general manager (KSA), NXN asked about the Saudi Vision 2030, AlMufadda commented, “One of the main enablers to achieve this goal is the ICT sector. And being one of the leaders of this market, we are building our strategy to compliment and achieve Saudi Vision’s 2030 goals and targets by having the right 5G infrastructure and the latest services and solutions that go with it.
Our efforts were recognized national and international globally acclaimed entities, for having a pioneering 5G experience, the 4th largest 5G network in the world and the biggest 5G network in Saudi, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.” As such, Zain KSA positions itself at the core of Smart City developments, such as Neom, that would create thousands of jobs, attract global and regional investors, and generate immense revenues.”
According to AlMufadda, “One main game changer this year was the 5G FWA solutions of CPE’s which are first in the world to be powered by eSIMs and Wi-Fi 6 and we are open to new opportunities and more capabilities using the 5G network in cooperation with our partners where we aim to develop new use cases and solutions to capitalize on our 5G network capabilities.”
Commenting on the subject, Jitawi said “standalone 5G network will unleash new set of opportunities mainly leveraging ultra-low latency 5G capabilities. At Nokia our mission is to enable all kinds of critical communication services, which will enable smart cities application as an example. 5G Standalone will be the next big thing coming in this market.”
In addition to 5G, AlMufadda also highlighted Zain’s cloud service, where it is providing a secure local cloud hosted in Saudi Arabia adhering to the international standards and providing the most efficient and secure solutions. In addition, Zain Drones solution offers new potentials and capabilities to the governmental and the business sector as well. As part of its Vision, Zain wants to provide the best services for all its customers along the different regions and especially within the country.
“Connectivity, telco, and digital services are no longer a luxury, they are in fact a necessity. So, having a reliable and ultra-fast connectivity with good quality is a must for individuals and enterprises. And this is what we are trying to provide for our customers in the region,” AlMufadda added.
Moving forward and looking into the future, Zain as a CSP in Saudi Arabia and Nokia as a multinational vendor are driving the national plan at a large scale. According to Ali Jitawi, mega- and giga- projects are taking place in this very interesting market. “As a multinational technology company, we are closely interlocking with the operators in Saudi Arabia, Zain in particular. We are also working closely with the MCIT and the CITC to better serve the country and the demands of this ambitious market. We are eager to fulfill the requirements and demand on the consumer side as well as on the smart cities and enterprise markets side.”