Ooredoo signs new network expansion agreement with Nokia

Ooredoo has today announced that it has signed a three-year deal with technology leader Nokia, as it continues to enhance the strength, speed and coverage of the Ooredoo Supernet in Qatar.

The agreement, which will see Nokia upgrading and expanding Ooredoo’s existing mobile broadband network across the country, will help meet Qatar’s ever-growing data demands by implementing Nokia’s 2G, 3G, 4G, 4G+ LTE radio network based on its Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station technology, its core network elements including Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and Home Subscriber Server (HSS), as well as NetAct OSS, using the company’s professional services.

Nokia’s Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station is the world’s smallest high-capacity, software-defined, multi-technology base station, and will provide Ooredoo customers with more network capacity, more efficiency and more flexibility.

Waleed Al-Sayed, Chief Executive Officer, Ooredoo Qatar, commented: “We continue to enhance the Ooredoo Supernet to deliver the best possible Internet experience, working with a range of international technology leaders such as Nokia. By deploying these cutting-edge technologies from Nokia, we will continue to actively boost network performance from 2G through to 4G+, and deliver a host of social, financial and business benefits for Qatar.”

Bernard Najm, Vice President and Head of the Middle East Market Unit, Nokia, said: “This is another important development in our relationship with Ooredoo Qatar, and we continue the successful deployment of LTE technology across the country. Our mobile broadband technology allows service providers to keep pace with fast-growing customer data demands now and into the future.”

As part of its Supernet initiative, Ooredoo has deployed Nokia’s LTE-Advanced carrier aggregation technology to offer subscribers with compatible mobile devices up to 375 megabits-per-second speeds in busy areas of Doha, Qatar’s capital and most populous city. In a recent demonstration, the companies achieved peak data rates close to 600 Mbps.

This is the latest in a series of technology enhancements with Nokia for Ooredoo. In 2015, Ooredoo began to deploy Nokia’s ‘small cells’ in popular network hotspots across the country, enabling Ooredoo to provide advanced voice and data services to its customers even in the most crowded indoor and outdoor areas.