Telecom giants Etisalat and Huawei announced via a press release at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019 in Barcelona that they would be collaborating to launch the end-to-end 5G network in the Emirates, by the end of this year.
The collaboration between the two market leaders is in line with the Abu Dhabi based telecom network provider’s continuous efforts to enhance customer experience, innovative technology and services to them utilizing the 5G network. The partnership will help improve network connections and data speeds and will enable the use of cutting edge applications.
According to the press release, Etisalat will be able to use 5G networks to provide innovative solutions and services in sectors like healthcare, transport, and education among others. As per the agreement, Huawei will be providing Etisalat, first and the largest telecom company in the Emirates, with its latest network solutions like including 5G wireless, 5G service-oriented core, and 5G-ready transport networks.
Senior Vice President of mobile networks at Etisalat, Saeed Al Zarouni said in a statement that Etisalat continues to focus on digital innovation in a bid to drive the digital future to empower societies, leading to investments in superior and state-of-the-art technology solutions on the network. Etisalat’s investment in 5G is extremely crucial, as it a major enabler for the next generation broadband services and the Internet of Things, a concept becoming extremely popular among the masses, due to the global adoption of connected devices.
Al Zarouni further added that 5G service availability would provide high data speeds with an ln ultra-low latency. This would provide unlimited and unrestricted access to innovative applications and services, increasing productivity and efficiency in businesses across sectors in the UAE. Al Zarouni claimed that the launch of 5G brings immense growth potential for future technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, AR & VR, 4K Gaming, etc., therefore, enhancing the overall digital experience of users.
The 5G network will also help create an open cloud platform to allow faster install times for new services. Etisalat currently has over 140 million customers in over 15 countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. On the other hand, Huawei is a global leader in smart devices and information & communication infrastructure, based out of Shenzhen, China.
President of Huawei Etisalat Global Key account, Peng Xionhji said that Huawei and Etisalat have been in collaboration for over a decade to launch innovative technologies and services. He also promised committed support to Etisalat for its 5G digital transformation in the Emirates and stated that the next generation telecom technology has immense potential for Etisalat to offer sophisticated and enhances broadband services, and explore new B2B markets.
Apart from Etisalat, another regional telecom giant Saudi Telecom has also joined the race for launching 5G networks. These two are the two biggest telecom companies in the Gulf. Saudi Telecom has signed a deal with Nokia to establish a 5G network in western and southern part of the Kingdom, including the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina. This project is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.
