JEDDAH -- Motorola, with over 30 years experience in the Middle East, yesterday announced an agreement to implement Saudi Arabia's second GSM mobile operator, Ettihad Etisalat, whose brand name is ''Mobily'', with a GSM Base-Station System (BSS) mobile network including Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution (EDGE) and Push-To-Talk over Cellular (PoC).
Under the contract, Motorola will provide a turnkey Radio Access Network (RAN) for GSM and EDGE, including Horizon II base stations.
The network will cover parts of the western, southern and northern regions of Saudi Arabia, and in addition to providing traditional voice services, ''Mobily'' will be able to offer subscribers walkie-talkie style communication using Motorola's PoC solution. By offering PoC services, ''Mobily'' will be able to benefit from additional revenue streams, while providing its subscribers with quick one-touch access to their friends, family and colleagues.
Commenting on the announcement, Etisalat Chief Executive Officer Khalid Al-Kaf, said: "We were seeking a strong revenue-generating solution to enhance wireless service offerings and delivery for our customers. We chose Motorola to help advance our mission to provide Saudi Arabians with quality telecommunications services, including its latest innovations such as Push-To-Talk over Cellular."
Margaret Rice-Jones, corporate vice president of Motorola Inc. and region management, Motorola Networks EMEA added: "Saudi Arabia is a high growth market for mobile telecommunications. Our collaboration with ''Mobily'' will help deliver ground-breaking services to subscribers. The smooth running of the network is clearly central to the successful delivery of these services."
With the ''Mobily'' contract, Motorola's global PoC infrastructure solutions continue to gain traction, reaching 25 contracts in 29 countries. Deployment of ''Mobily'' network is taking place throughout early 2005.
This contract is a breakthrough for Motorola in Saudi Arabia and means the company now works with operators in almost all Middle East markets.
Meanwhile, the Saudi Telecom announced on Tuesday that it had signed an agreement with Nokia to provide MMS (multimedia messaging service) to its clients. The Saudi telecom giant said the new service would be launched within a month. The agreement will serve STC's 10 million mobile subscribers, Saad Al-Qahtani, director of media and marketing support, said. The upgraded messaging service will have audio, video and pictorial facilities, he pointed out.
Khalil Hanware
© Arab News 2005
