Doha

In a clear indication of Qatar’s prospective entry into the “next chapter of telecom networks”, Ooredoo Group and Ericsson have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for ‘5G’ development with the ambition of developing use cases, requirements and deployment scenarios for 5G technologies.

In line with the collaboration, Ooredoo and Ericsson will evaluate both the performance and applicability of potential key 5G components in a controlled test environment.

5G is the next chapter of telecom networks designed to meet ever advancing and increasingly complex sets of performance requirements. It represents a new way of thinking in the approach to generational changes in mobile technology.

5G will encompass an evolution of today's LTE technology and the addition of new radio access technologies, often in higher frequencies. 5G will impact the entire mobile network and associated eco-system, from devices to radio access, IP core and into the cloud.

The MoU was signed by Ahmed Yousef al-Derbesti, Ooredoo Group chief operating officer and Jan Wäreby, senior vice president and head of sales at Ericsson, in the presence of senior executives from both companies at Ericsson’s headquarters in Sweden.

Ooredoo Group CEO Sheikh Saud bin Nasser al-Thani said, “Ooredoo is striving to support our customers’ activities in an increasingly digital, connected world and we are determined to be at the cutting-edge of network technologies. We are pleased to partner on developing next generation technologies with Ericsson, a trusted partner and a major supplier for radio access, core, transmission, OSS and BSS. We look forward to working towards developing 5G technologies together.”

Rafiah Ibrahim, president, Ericsson (Middle East and Africa), said, “At Ericsson, we are looking forward to our joint exploration of the possibilities and opportunities that 5G technologies will enable. We believe that next generation networks will have a profound impact in the future by enabling anything and everything to connect, bringing value across a number of verticals in the Networked Society. Our continued collaboration with the Ooredoo Group is an indication of our staunch commitment to continue working with them across the technology spectrum.”