Nawaf Al Gharabally: Zain at the forefront offering the latest telecom technologies to its customers

Zain showcased its 5G success story at Huawei’s MBBF in Dubai

 

• Zain considers 5G network’s quality the fundamental building block for sustained growth

 

Kuwait - 16 October 2021

Zain, the leading digital service provider in Kuwait, showcased its 5G deployment success story and the company’s leadership as the first operator to commercially launch this revolutionary technology in the Kuwaiti market, as well as launching the region’s largest 5G network in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

The company participated in a keynote as part of the 12th edition of the Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF), hosted by global tech leader Huawei in Dubai, featuring the presence of many of the world’s biggest names in the global ICT sector.

Zain shared its 5G journey via a special screen at the forum’s exhibition, where Zain Group Chief Technical Officer, Nawaf Al Gharabally delivered a keynote titled “Exploring the Road of 5G Success – The Story of Zain”.

The Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF), hosted by Huawei in Dubai UAE, is a collision of ideas of the industry’s top leaders, and has witnessed the acceleration of the industry throughout 11 years. The 12th edition offers an opportunity for the mobile and adjacent vertical ecosystems to reconnect, rebuild, and reimagine a fully connected, intelligent world. With the strongest speaker line-up and innovative product launches, the mobile ecosystems are back together to explore how mobile broadband technology is shaping the future and continuing to transform people's lives and industries.

During the keynote, Al Gharabally said: “We always extend our strategic partnerships with the world’s biggest tech leaders to continue our vision of pushing the digital transformation wheel within ICT sectors, and offering the best world-class solutions and digital platforms to our customers, not only in Kuwait, but the entire region”.

Al Gharabally added: “We are very proud that our 5G deployment story was one of the most efficient operations in the company’s history, especially when it comes to a new major technology like 5G on a nationwide level and in a comparatively short period of time. This is of course while making sure we offer the service at its top quality and in line with its global launch in international markets”.

Al Gharabally continued: “When we deployed 5G, we set a strategic vision that centered around a very crucial concept, which is that the network’s quality will ultimately be the fundamental building block for sustained growth. For this, our investment in our network’s infrastructure, making use of our global partners’ expertise, utilizing our own leading experience in the local market, and our team’s dedication, were all major factors that led to the success of this project the network’s top quality”.

Al Gharabally further explained: “After the successful commercial launch of the service, we diversified the 5G device ecosystem by offering a wide range of the best smartphones and Internet devices, while also introducing a variety of bundles and plans to cater to the needs of all customer segments. We also focused on unlocking more value by partnering with the biggest service providers in the region, and were keen on offering plans that centered around our customers’ various interests, such as entertainment, home security, smart devices, gaming, and more”.

Al Gharabally added: “During the pandemic, we faced some obstacles to maintain the quality of our network and service, given the huge surge in data usage during the first days of the crisis and throughout lockdowns. However, our infrastructure’s readiness and our anticipation for such cases from a technical point of view enabled us to maintain our leadership position which Zain always enjoyed in the market. This was also recognized by official regulatory bodies, including Kuwait’s Communication and Information Technology Regulatory Authority (CITRA), and global entities like Ookla Speedtest that recognized Zain as ‘Kuwait’s Fastest Fixed Broadband Network’ for Q1-Q2 2020. Moreover, Ookla announced that Zain KSA won the Speedtest Award as Fastest Fixed Internet in Saudi Arabia for the first half of 2021, retaining the title for the third time in a row.”

Al Gharabally concluded: “Zain is at the forefront of companies that continue to offer the latest generations of telecom technologies and digital services to its customers. Today, the entire world from governments to private institutions is shifting towards digital transformation with great pace. Obviously, traditional telecom networks will not be able to satisfy future needs of that transformation, and we believe 5G is only the beginning of the new digital era”.