Ooredoo Group, a telecommunications company in the Middle East, has partnered with Chinese technology giant Huawei to transition towards the era of ‘5.5G’, also known as 5G-Advanced, by upgrading its core networks in key markets.
The collaboration, formalized during the Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2024, aims to modernize Ooredoo’s core networks in countries including Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, Tunisia, Algeria, and the Maldives.
As per the agreement, Ooredoo and Huawei will work together to enhance all core networks to a 5G core with a service-based architecture.
Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, CEO of Ooredoo, emphasized the company’s dedication to providing advanced connectivity solutions to enhance customer experiences and meet evolving demands in the digital age.
He highlighted the transition to the 5.5G era as a significant milestone in this endeavor and underscored the importance of the partnership with Huawei in delivering top-notch services across their markets.
Ooredoo highlighted the critical role of the core network in linking various industry networks, communication networks, and the internet, enabling the introduction and commercialization of new services.
The announcement was made by George Gao, President of Huawei’s cloud core network product line, who stated that 2024 marks the commencement of commercialization for 5.5G or 5G-Advanced.
Huawei is confident that the investments made by operators in deploying 5G network infrastructure will be safeguarded with the advent of 5G-Advanced. Cao Ming, President of Huawei’s wireless solution, previously affirmed during a media roundtable at Huawei’s 14th Global Mobile Broadband Forum in October 2023 that 5G-Advanced networks will leverage existing 5G Standalone (SA) networks, minimizing the need for significant investments in new network architecture.
Ming also assured that Huawei is collaborating with its partners to ensure seamless compatibility between future 5.5G applications, devices, and services and current 5G networks.
