Ooredoo Group has signed a five-year deal with Nokia to bring multiple technologies and services, including 5G, to customers in Middle East, North Africa and South-east Asia.
Nokia will deploy equipment from its latest AirScale RAN portfolio on sites across North Africa and Southeast Asia. Nokia’s AirScale radio platform features the flexibility and capability required for delivering 5G services to consumers and enterprises across different spectrum bands. The deal also includes digital deployment services supporting a faster time to market as well as technical support services.

Nokia will also provide its cloud-native Core software to give Ooredoo zero-touch automation capabilities that will drive greater scale and reliability. Supported by Nokia Cloud Packet Core, Voice Core, Registers, Policy Controller, Signaling and Cloud Platform, Ooredoo will be able to introduce network slicing to launch and grow new services spanning health, smart cities, banking, transportation, and public safety more rapidly.

Photo: Left to right — Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, Managing Director, Ooredoo Group; and Pekka Lundmark, President and Chief Executive Officer at Nokia

Nokia’s optical solutions will ensure expansion and applications flow for Ooredoo’s optical network without constraint. This provides increased network flexibility and operational automation through zero-touch transparent photonic networking.

Nokia’s microwave transport supports 5G microwave growth and spectrum like E-band. The transport networks will enable seamless launching of new services where communities and businesses can rely on privacy, security, and near instant response times.

Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, Managing Director, Ooredoo Group, said: “This renewed contract is testimony to our growing partnership with Nokia to modernize and expand our network by rolling out world-class 4G and 5G services across North Africa and Southeast Asia.”

Pekka Lundmark, President and Chief Executive Officer at Nokia, said: “This new five-year deal will accelerate the benefits of Nokia’s technology – including 5G – for consumers in Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia and will enable businesses to digitalize and innovate with new services.”