Zain in Saudi Arabia and Nokia Siemens Networks sign approximately $1bn turnkey 2G and 3G network contract

Nokia Siemens Networks will supply a full turnkey 2G and 3G mobile network, including core and radio networks, operations and business support systems, applications and a full suite of services, including managed services.

Under the terms of the contract, Nokia Siemens Networks will provide to Zain in Saudi Arabia the latest 2G and 3G mobile network technologies, including HSDPA and HSUPA, based on the latest base station design and distributed architecture for both radio access and core networks according to the 3GPP release 4 standard. The compact Flexi base station design enables the customer to save significantly on capital and operational expenditure and allows for a fast rollout. With the distributed architecture of its mobile softswitch and multimedia gateway, Nokia Siemens Networks is able to offer Zain in Saudi Arabia a cost optimized core network solution with a fast rollout to enable new advanced services for subscribers.

Nokia Siemens Networks will deliver a full turnkey solution, including managed services for five years from a dedicated local network operations center. The $935m turnkey contract also includes network planning, implementation, project management, systems integration, logistics management, multi-vendor maintenance, field services and network optimization for the base station sites. The company will also provide a wide range of operations and business support system (OSS/BSS) solutions that will help Zain reduce operating expenses and manage the network and service quality for its subscribers. Nokia Siemens Networks will also provide Zain with its convergent prepaid solution, charge@once select, for voice and data.

Nokia Siemens Networks is the sole supplier of Zain Saudi's core network, including the industry leading MSC Server mobile softswitch for cost-efficient voice and data services, as well as the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), which enables a wide range of rich communications services based on the Internet Protocol.

"This huge project will radically change the face of mobile communications in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and sets the benchmark for future mobile communications in the region. We are extremely pleased with Nokia Siemens Networks' dedicated team, broad product portfolio and its strong history in providing best-in-class technology. We see Nokia Siemens Networks as our preferred partner in supporting our global expansion plans and in creating the largest and most advanced networks in the world," said Dr. Marwan Al-Ahmadi, CEO for Zain in Saudi Arabia.

"This project takes our long-standing collaboration with Zain, established in 1994, to a new level. We are proud to support Zain's entry into the Saudi market with our industry-leading services and solutions. This deal is one of the most important in Nokia Siemens Networks' history, and also very strategic for our growth in Africa as Zain is present in more than 14 countries in the region," said Dr. Walid Moneimne, Chairman for the Middle East and Africa region, Nokia Siemens Networks.

Ahmed Othman, Head of the Zain/Celtel customer business team for Nokia Siemens Networks said "Our managed services solution is designed to ensure that Zain benefits from a reduced time to market, faster revenue generation and high network quality and availability."

Zain, formerly known as the MTC Group, is the leading telecommunications mobile provider in 22 countries across the Middle East and Africa and was recently awarded the third mobile telecommunications license for Saudi Arabia.