Officials of Mobily, Samsung Electronics and Huawei Middle East pose for photo after announcing the agreement at a press conference in Barcelona on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress Monday. BARCELONA: Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) announced its award of two contracts worth SR450 million ($120 million) for the construction and rollout of its long-term evolved (LTE) infrastructure in several of cities and regions in the Kingdom, making it the first operator to embrace LTE. Mobily made the announcement on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, adding that the contracts signed with the world's two infrastructure giants Samsung and Huawei are for the commissioning of its networks in 30 plus cities and an upgrade of Bayanat Al Oula's existing WiMAX infrastructure which will make it largest LTE network in the region. “Mobily based the vision for its infrastructure investment on the landscape and opportunities available in the telecommunications sector in the Kingdom,” said Chairman of Mobily Eng. Abdulaziz Alsaghyir. “Taking this into account, LTE is the technology of choice for providing advanced high data communication services at affordable costs, half those of 3rd Generation mobile. Mobily is committed to investing in broadband technology infrastructure, fixed and mobile, to bring the latest products and services to the consumer and business segments,” he said. Alsaghyir further said Mobily would be the first company in the region to operate an LTE and WiMax network using the same towers at high quality and reliability, both of which will be used to provide broadband service to densely populated areas to achieve the company's growth, efficiency and differentiation based strategy by offering integrated fixed and mobile telecommunication solutions to maintain leadership in the data communication segment of the market. The LTE-based infrastructure is expected to allow Mobily to provide data communication speeds that reach 100 megabits per second to meet the developing aspirations of Mobily's growing broadband base, last reported as five million customers, among them 2.3 million subscribed to Mobily's high-volume data bundles. “Mobily is an innovative operator, led by people who have place top priority on providing the best quality service even taking challenges. Although rolling out a dual standard network of LTE and WiMax demands highly expertise, Samsung will make every effort to make Mobily become 4G leader in the Middle East with Samsung's 4G ability,” said Youngky Kim, executive vice president and head of Telecommunication Systems Business at Samsung Electronics. “Mobily is an innovative operator which is focused on creating long-term value for their customers and enhanced growth potential in the industry, both of which are achieved through Huawei's customized LTE products, services and solutions. We are committed to elevating our partnership with Mobily to the next level with this rollout of the region's first LTE network,” said Zheng Xiang, vice president for Huawei Middle East. The contracts follow field testing conducted last year to identify the needs of constructing and rolling out an LTE network, as well maintenance and operation aspects to keep these kind of networks running optimally.
