Telco Zain chooses Ericsson for 5G roll out in Bahrain

Zain has selected the Ericsson to build its 5G network in Bahrain. The commercial 5G services expected to go live by the end of this year.

With the help of 5G Core Products, 5G Radio Access Network (RAN), and solution, Zain Bahrain aims to enhance the digital lifestyle of the people, industries, and enterprises in the country.

The Zain Bahrain network will be upgraded from LTE to 5G, notes the announcement.

Executive Opinion

President of Ericsson Middle East and Africa, Fadi Pharaon, said, "5G promises to accelerate the digitization of industries, presenting new opportunities and enabling service providers to launch the most advanced technologies while improving the end-user experience with faster speeds and lower latency. The deployment of these technologies will enable Zain Bahrain to meet the rapidly evolving demands of consumers and accelerate deployment of new use cases and innovative services for their enterprise and industry customers."
His Excellency Shaikh Ahmed bin Ali Al Khalifa, Zain Bahrain Chairman, said, "This agreement marks a major milestone for both companies. Zain Bahrain is excited about the new strategic partnership with Ericsson to support, expand, and speed up the deployment of the Kingdom 5G network. Zain Bahrain’s ability to provide the latest 5G revolution services comes under the continuous commitment to investing in Zain’s digitalization strategy to empower Zain Bahrain customers with solutions and services that are at the forefront of our digital future."

The Zain and Ericsson Partnership

It is also announced that the Ericsson 5G portfolio will strengthen its current network. At the same time, it will also help the Zain Bahrain to expand the coverage.

Ericsson's low latency and high-speed 5G technology will also be going to help the Zain to meet with some of the growing demands of the traffic data and to offer high quality fixed wireless and mobile broadband experiences.

Ericsson also revealed that it has more than 70 commercial 5G agreements with different communication service providers.
A 5G network promises the internet speed of around 1.2 gigabits per second, which gradually evolves to reach around 10Gbps, more than 100 times faster than the 4G network. Furthermore, 5G has a latency of less than one millisecond, as compared to the 20 milliseconds for the 4G network.

In the month of May this year, Etisalat, the UAE's biggest telecom operator, which also became the first service provider in the region to announce the availability of a 5G network that supports the smartphones for commercial use. It was soon followed by the UAE's second-biggest operator, du and Bahrain Batelco.