Zain KSA in cooperation with Huawei deploys 3rd-gen 5G RAN product MetaAAU

Zain KSA is catering to a growing 5G customer base with plans to become a one-stop digital partner and business technology provider in Saudi Arabia.

Zain KSA in cooperation with Huawei today, deployed the third-generation 5G RAN product MetaAAU for the 5G carrier aggregation coverage extension. Zain KSA is serving a growing 5G customer base with plans to become a one-stop digital partner and business technology provider in Saudi Arabia. To provide more capacity to 5G users, Zain KSA incorporated an additional 5G carrier, seeking to support more 5G use cases, including cloud computing, IoT, AI, and machine learning solutions while continuing to deliver excellent user experiences. According to the company, by integrating MetaAAU into its 5G network, Zain KSA will enable more users to benefit from its wide range of services after expanding coverage and capacity and increasing the network speed.

MetaAAU is the latest and most advanced product of Huawei's third-generation 5G RAN product series. It is claimed to achieve best performance and lowest power consumption by applying a wide range of leading wireless technologies and represents a key path for evolution to 5.5G network. MetaAAU introduces the new extremely large antenna array (ELAA) architecture, multi-channel technology, and innovative algorithms to double the scale of arrays compared with the previous-generation AAU. This solution can improve network performance while slashing energy consumption.

Zain KSA’s Chief Technology Officer, Eng. Abdulrahman Hamad AlMufadda said: “This new upgrade to our 5G network serves our strategic goal to deliver world-class 5G experiences that match up to Saudi Vision 2030’s goals of transforming the Kingdom into a digital economy hub powered by Industry 4.0 and supporting a high quality of life for its communities. Building on our elaborate 5G infrastructure, we launched the 5G carrier aggregation feature in 2020, achieving ultra-fast Internet speeds of 2.4 Gbps. Now with the accelerating industry ecosystem development, and as more and more 5G smartphones support this feature, we are extending the population coverage of 5G dual carriers and bringing the ultra-fast user experience to more customers. In addition to the carrier aggregation benefits, the innovative MetaAAU product will support enhanced coverage capability and greatly improve our customer experience across several fields including business, e-commerce, and gaming.”

President of Huawei 5G Product Line, Ritchie Peng said: "Huawei has made deep efforts in Massive MIMO technology. MetaAAU is our third-generation Massive MIMO product and a major product in Huawei's third-generation 5G RAN series. Its extremely large antenna array technology makes it possible to use higher frequency bands and higher bandwidth to serve the mobile industry in the future. We will continue to provide innovative solutions to help Zain KSA to build the leading performance network and provide a better user experience to end users."