Zain KSA has made investment in LTE-Advanced three component carrier aggregation (FDD-LTE 3CC) technology to offer data speeds of up to 187.5 Mbps across its network.

The deployment of three component carrier aggregation in the FDD-LTE band (FDD-LTE 3CC) enables Zain KSA to increase data speeds at the cell edge – close to neighboring cells, where interference and signal loss can impact the subscriber experience – to meet the demand from its customers.

Zain KSA is already offering higher speeds in several high-traffic areas of Jeddah, allowing users of Category 6 (CAT 6) capable devices to benefit from available and upcoming data intensive services, such as virtual reality.

Zain KSA is utilizing the Nokia Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station and FDD-LTE software to run 4G on LTE-Advanced three-band carrier aggregation technology.

The telecom operator gains from the aggregation of 25 MHz of spectrum on the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz bands boosting network speeds by up to 187.5 Mbps.

Sultan AlDeghaither, chief technology officer of Zain KSA, said: “This 4G technology will allow us to move toward our goal of transforming Jeddah into a role model for smart and digitally connected cities across the world, and enrich the experience of Zain customers in Saudi Arabia.”

With this project, Zain becomes the first telecom operator in Saudi Arabia to carry out the refarming of spectrum in the 900 MHz band from GSM to LTE, and using three component carrier aggregation to increase speeds on Zain’s 4G network.