Saudi broadband expansion signals more IPTV, mobile TV
Rebecca Hawkes ©RapidTVNews | 24-11-2010
A multi-million Euro development contract has been signed by Saudi Telecom (STC) and Alcatel-Lucent for the expansion of the former’s broadband access network in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
As part of the project, Alcatel-Lucent will deploy its IPsolution, the Intelligent Services Access Manager, to deliver data-rich multimedia services such as IPTV, VoIP and content-on-demand via VDSL2 and GPON technology. Network design, deployment, commissioning and project management support will also be delivered by the European company.
“As a major operator, STC is committed to provide its customers with the latest high-speed broadband service with the highest quality of service,” said Dr Zeyad Al-Otaibi, STC’s vice president, networks.
The deal follows one forged between the two companies in October 2009, to expand STC’s broadband network to serve an additional 2 million customers by the end of 2010.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, Saudi Arabia’s Mobily awarded Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks contracts worth US$213 million for an extension of its mobile broadband network. The Etisalat owned operator’sextensive network already covers 92% of the populated areas of the Kingdom.
“The new expansion will offer more and more customers access to speeds of 2.16Mbps,” said Khalid Al Kaf, Mobily’s chief executive officer, who said the project will strengthen the network’s performance and efficiency.
As part of these plans, Mobily will upgrade sections of its network to 3.75G from 3.5G technology, so it can offer full high speed packet access to customers. The operator has reportedly also begun testing network download speeds of 42Mbps.
Via the Mobily 3lhawa portal, subscribers can watch either video-on-demand or live mobile TV, from an array of channels including MBC, CNBC Arabiya, Al Arabiya, CNN, Melody Movies, Saudi TV, the Indian channel Zoom, and TFC from the Philippines.
By the end of 2010, Research and Markets predicts Saudi Arabia will have over 52 million mobile customers, with a penetration rate of over 200%. As of the end of 2009, Mobily had one million active mobile broadband subscribers, however research suggests that broadband subscription in the Kingdom will increase for Mobily and its competitors by almost 38% this year.
In February2010, Motorola Networks signed a contract with Zain Saudi Arabia to deploy a next generation Long Term Evaluation (LTE) mobile network in the Kingdom.
