Mobily signs IoT and 5G transformation deal with Ericsson

Mobily 5G and IoTTelecom equipment maker Ericsson has signed a 5G and IoT transformation deal with Mobily of Saudi Arabia.

The 5G and IoT agreement is part of a modernization contract to upgrade Mobily’s access network in the western region of Saudi Arabia, deploying the Ericsson Radio System.

Ericsson will supply Baseband 52- and 66-series and mobile backhaul equipment such as the Ericsson MINI-LINK and Ericsson Router 6000 series to expand network coverage and improve capacity, and enhance end-user experience. Mobily will benefit from small footprint and reduced power consumption of the Ericsson Radio System.

“This agreement with Ericsson is in line with the Saudi Vision 2030 and its objectives that fall within developing the Telecom and IT sector, in addition to preparing best-provided services to customers that comply with its new strategy RISE,” said Ahmed Aboudoma, chief executive officer of Mobily.

Ericsson will introduce technologies such as FDD/TDD convergence, 4×4 MIMO, multi-band carrier aggregation, and enable spectrum flexibility and migration between GSM, WCDMA, and LTE by implementing the Ericsson Shared Carrier solution. These enhancements will also prepare Mobily’s network for Internet of Things and 5G.

“We have helped build Mobily’s network across Saudi Arabia and will continue to provide leading solutions to address their needs, making the network ready for 5G and Internet of Things,” said Rafiah Ibrahim, head of Ericsson Middle East and Africa.

ETIHAD Etisalat (Mobily) signed an agreement with Machines Talk, a national IoT company, to provide several smart and innovative products like fleet and asset management to satisfy the needs of government and private sectors.

Mobily financials

Mobily reported a loss of SAR 174.5 million in Q3 2017 compared to a loss of SAR 166.3 million in Q3 2016.

Mobily said revenues fell 4.3 percent to SAR 2,806 million compared to SAR 2,932 million in Q3 2016 mainly due to loss of customers as a result of implementation of the finger print process in 2016.

Gross profit dipped 4 percent to SAR 1,672 million compared to SAR 1,741 million in Q3 2016.

EBITDA increased 10.6 percent to SAR 903 million with 32 percent EBITDA margin compared to SAR 816.6 million (or 28 percent EBITDA margin) in Q3 2016. This increase is due to the cost optimization through several cost reductions, and savings from re-negotiating several contracts.

Mobily in early 2017 awarded Cisco a contract to modernize its enterprise and data center networks. The deployment of Cisco’s network solutions comes as a major step towards Mobily’s evolution to full software-defined networking (SDN) infrastructure which will drive new customer services and greater business agility.

Mobily aims to shift to a software-defined networking (SDN) infrastructure that will accelerate application deployment and significantly reduce operational costs through policy-enabled workflow automation.