At Mobile World Congress, Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and Cisco announced that they have signed a three-year managed services agreement to transform STC's core network and operations, and prepare it for the digital era. The long-term contract delivers the full functionality of a Service Provider-grade Network Operating Center (NOC) to support STC's drive to introduce new services, improve customer experiences and enhance network agility and performance.
The engagement extends the longstanding relationship between STC and Cisco and will support the telecom service provider in scaling to meet current and future customer demands. The transformation of STC's network aligns with Saudi Arabia's National Transformation and the country digitization acceleration plans announced between the government and Cisco last year, which aims to support the Kingdom's digital economy ambitions.
"We operate in a constantly evolving industry in the Kingdom with a need to continuously improve our operational service and customer satisfaction, as well as reduce operational expenditure," commented Nasser Alnasser, Senior Vice President for Technology and Operations at STC. "This contract with Cisco has been structured to take our digital operations to the next level through the introduction of industry-leading tools, processes and, most importantly, a focus on developing local calibers across multiple technology domains to meet the needs of the business on the one side, and to increase the technical Saudi workforce on the other."
While STC's service availability and reliability are already considered industry benchmarks in the region, Cisco's managed services will further elevate the performance of STC's critical infrastructure. The new contract covers STC's core MPLS, which carries all of the service provider's core and critical services, in addition to WiFi and Evolved Packet core networks, as well as the IT Enterprise and Data Center core business.
"We are excited to play an integral role in supporting STC's vision to accelerate technical and commercial innovation," said Peter Karlstromer, senior vice president, Global Service Provider, EMEAR, Cisco. "As part of our ongoing collaboration, this agreement places STC at the forefront of the latest developments in the telecoms sector, with a network capable of capturing emerging opportunities and fulfilling future requirements for end users and enterprises."
Cisco's managed services will enable STC to generate maximum value from their investments in network architecture and support the streamlining of operations, maintenance and the expansion of the telco's network. The new agreement will also accelerate time to revenue for new services and reduce total cost of ownership.
STC is a leading service provider in telecoms infrastructures and has embarked on a new strategy, "The Next Horizon", which aims to transform the telco's culture and business, deliver profitable growth and enable the knowledge-based economy to support the vision of driving socio-economic development in Saudi Arabia.