Zain wins ‘Best 5G Business Development Strategy’ award

16/09/2024

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 16: Zain has been recognized with the ‘Best 5G Business Development Strategy’ award at the 5G Core Summit, held recently in Dubai. The award, presented by the GSMA and Informa Tech, recognizes Zain for leading efforts to drive 5G-based innovation.

The summit was attended by executives and leaders from the telecom and IT industries across the MENA region. Zain Kuwait Mobile Networks Team Leader Khalifah Almulla received the award on stage.

This recognition highlights Zain’s proactive efforts in advancing 5G solutions and acknowledges the company’s readiness to launch 5G New Calling (5GNC), an emerging capability in the 5G network that paves the way for a new era of voice and video communication. Zain plans to roll out this new service commercially across Kuwait by the end of this year.

During the summit, Zain signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its global partner Huawei to explore further collaboration and development of 5GNC. Last year, Zain showcased this technology at the New Calling Summit in Paris, where it demonstrated the capabilities of its network and successfully trialed the service. Zain was the only operator from the region to be invited by the GSMA to showcase 5GNC to the global telecom community.

Zain was selected for this award based on several key criteria, including its solid 5G deployment strategy, efficient network architecture, the readiness of its operation and maintenance teams, and the introduction of key enhancements for network maintenance and troubleshooting. The company’s integration of intelligent solutions and its level of innovation within the network were also pivotal in receiving this recognition.

The ‘Best 5G Business Development Strategy’ award is presented to operators who have successfully crafted an innovative strategy to transform the user experience. It also recognizes those who have understood the investments required across the entire 5G architecture and have implemented transformative service improvements, such as ultra-fast speeds, low latency, and the ability to handle massive simultaneous connections. Zain has effectively implemented these factors across its technology infrastructure.

5GNC enhances traditional calls with new capabilities, allowing both voice and video calls to be made directly over the network without the need for data services. This advancement introduces ultra-HD, intelligent, and interactive calling features on the native call screen without requiring additional apps.

Users can enjoy enhanced voice and video calls with 5GNC, featuring rich intelligence capabilities such as real-time voice and video recognition, instant live translation during calls, and the inclusion of fun avatars and filters for video calls.

In 2019, Zain led the market as the first operator to commercially launch 5G services, setting a precedent in the local and regional telecom industries. Since then, the company has continued to lead in adapting 5G technologies, revolutionizing the digital journeys of its customers.

Zain remains committed to investing in its 5G infrastructure, achieving the highest speeds and operational efficiencies across its network. The company is dedicated to meeting the growing demand for data while exploring new ecosystems made possible by technological innovation, all with the aim of serving the needs of consumers, businesses, and government agencies.