Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and Huawei jointly announced the establishment of the first 5G joint innovation program in MENA region. This ambitious program will sketch an outline for critical experimental activities to address the fast developments in mobile market. The future diverse applications will require ultra-high throughput, low latency and massive connections; therefore, requiring a stark revolution in the current cellular network. The new 5G technologies promise to address these requirements, by delivering huge capacity, better spectral efficiency and required lower latency.
The 5G Joint Innovation Program includes verification of 5G technologies and their respective performance, through Laboratory pilot projects and Field Trials. This includes extensive testing and launching of a wide range of 5G features and services. The prime objective is to carry out experiments that will significantly realize the 5G promise of: reduced latency, improved spectrum efficiency and substantially increased number of devices that can simultaneously connect to the network. This will also support the development of new market segments, and ultimately fully realize the 5G high potentials in STC network.
Eng. Nasser Al Nasser, SVP for STC Technology & Operations, said: ""STC is committed to continuous innovation to provide the best network and services for our customers in the digitalized society. This 5G partnership with Huawei is one step forward towards enabling the establishment of 5G networks and pioneering the launch of new 5G services in KSA. This is a great follow on from the unrivalled track-record in 4G-LTE and 4.5G network commercial successes.""
Veni Shone, vice president of Huawei Wireless Network, said: ""Although 5G is expected to create enormous opportunities, we face many technical and business challenges. I believe that continuous technology innovation and open collaborations is the key to overcome the challenges effectively. As strategic partners, Huawei will continue to cooperate with STC to make strategic investments in 5G technology research and industrialization.""
Finally, it is an STC priority to harness its long standing partnership with Huawei by leveraging 5G key technologies through sustained pioneering experimentation and innovation activities. Continued cooperation between the two companies will surely bring significant benefits to the whole industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.