Nokia and Zain KSA smarten up Saudi homes and offices with 5G-powered FWA and Wi-Fi 6

• Nokia and #zainksa are expanding their strategic #5g partnership with a rollout of 60,000 FastMile #5g Gateways across Saudi Arabia over the next 12 months
• The #5g fixed wireless access gateways are the first to incorporate eSIMS (embedded SIM), aligning with Zain KSA's digital transformation strategy to enhance the customer experience
• FastMile #5g gateways connect homes and businesses with ultra-fast #5g technology, and support Wi-Fi 6

06 January 2021

Espoo, Finland – #nokia today announced an expansion of its strategic #5g partnership with #zainksa to rollout 60,000 FastMile #5g Gateway 3.1 with eSIM across Saudi Arabia over the next 12 months. The gateways will deliver stronger signal, better connectivity and ultra-high data speeds to every corner of homes and offices in the Kingdom. The move allows #zainksa to support smart home and office adoption in the country with enhanced connectivity for smart devices through #5g and Wi-Fi 6, which altogether guarantees an improved customer experience.                                                             

Nokia FastMile #5g gateways take advantage of the company's self-optimizing mesh Wi-Fi 6 solution for real time Wi-Fi performance optimization. The gateways ensure a much quicker and easier account setup by using the latest eSIM technology that allows users to avoid the process of acquiring and installing a physical SIM card. This deployment is the first time eSIM has been used in a #5g fixed wireless access solution.                                  

Eng. AbdulRahman bin Hamad AlMufadda, Chief Technology Officer at #zainksa, said: "Rolling out our new #5g fixed wireless access routers comes in line with our digital transformation and #5g expansion strategy reiterating our role in serving the Kingdom's society. Our mission from the start was to strengthen the #5g experience in the Kingdom into two levels: horizontally, concerned with spreading the #5g network across the largest possible geographical scale. Vertically, through #5g fixed wireless access solutions to enable homes and offices with the best and most reliable broadband experience available. In alignment with Saudi Vision 2030 we will continue to invest further to enable the digital sector and the national digital transformation namely through: cloud computing, IoT, and AI; while simultaneously aiming to become the digital service provider of choice in the Kingdom."

He added, "We are delighted to launch the #5g fixed wireless access devices, to ensure that homes and businesses can enjoy the fastest and most reliable broadband experience. As such, #zainksa becomes the pioneering operator in the latest generation of telco services to deploy #nokia FastMile #5g Gateways which is another milestone added in our reliable and secure #5g network to revolutionize the way people live and work."

Sandra Motley, President of Fixed Networks Division at #nokia, said: "We are happy to support #zainksa connect more people, and revolutionize the way people live and work in the Kingdom. #zainksa is joining the leading operators around the world, in providing the #5g fixed wireless access to deliver a gigabit experience to consumers and businesses alike. The combination of FastMile #5g Gateways and self-optimizing mesh Wi-Fi 6 technology means that #zainksa is delivering a new and unmatched #5g experience to everyone, at every corner in homes and offices."

Both companies are committed to extending their cooperation on #5g to achieve the best possible coverage, stability and bandwidth for Saudi Arabia. #zainksa, one of the world's pioneering #5g network operators, ranked as the largest #5g rollout out in Saudi, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and fourth globally. It has an established relationship with #nokia where in June 2019 the two companies announced a three-year deal to rollout #5g to thousands of sites using Nokia's comprehensive portfolio, introducing #5g using 2.6 GHz and 3.5 GHz along with massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) to deliver enhanced network capacity and coverage with enhanced data speeds. The deal also introduced E-Band microwave in certain areas to allow for ultra-high-capacity backhaul networks.