STC and Ericsson step-up the customer experience with 4G services in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Telecom Company (STC) has selected Ericsson as one of the main vendors in the company's deployment of its LTE network in Saudi Arabia. Utilizing Ericsson's leading end-to-end LTE solution, STC will be able to provide customers with an enhanced experience, enabling true high-speed internet, rich multimedia applications such as High Definition (HD) video streaming and chatting, cloud services and conferencing and high definition applications.

With 4G/LTE technology, STC customers will enjoy an unparalleled mobile-broadband experience providing ultra high data speeds across the Kingdom. 4G/LTE, designed to transfer even larger amounts of data efficiently, is considered the most advanced ICT technology available to operators today and will allow STC to satisfy its customers' growing demand for new and innovative mobile broadband services.

"The ICT market in Saudi Arabia has witnessed tremendous growth in the last few years and the Saudi consumer in specific was and is still eager to have the latest and fastest technology. Together with Ericsson, we will introduce the most advanced telecom innovation in Saudi Arabia, 4G/LTE, enabling Saudi consumers to benefit from this technology in all aspects of their lives from business, education, health and many others. " said Dr. Zeyad Al Etaibi, Group CTO, Saudi Telecom Company.

"We have chosen Ericsson as main partner for the deployment of our LTE network in the 2 biggest cities to leverage on the company's global and local competence, as well as the leadership that Ericsson has in the LTE space," said Eng. Bandar Al-Qafari, Vice President for network sector , STC "Our commitment to our customers makes it our duty to deploy the latest and most advanced technology available within the telecommunication industry, and with Ericsson's help we will be able to meet the demands of our customers and enhance their mobile experiences."

In addition to managing the existing STC 2G and 3G networks, Ericsson will also manage the new STC LTE network whereby Ericsson will optimize, manage, operate and continuously improve STC's 2G, 3G and now 4G networks. Ericsson will also introduce a new subscriber data model which will facilitate management and access to data, launch of new services, connecting to the cloud and independent scalability of storage and processing capacity. Ericsson will also introduce an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) with STC that will act as a common core network solution supporting 2G, 3G and 4G/LTE technologies providing additional capacity and throughput.

"Mobile penetration in Saudi Arabia is constantly rising, as is the demand for higher speeds and better connectivity, and we are extremely proud to be expanding our partnership with STC in the Kingdom in order to help the company bring the latest in ICT to Saudi Arabia," said Ali Eid, President of Ericsson in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. "LTE technology will empower STC and help them exceed their customer's expectations by providing them with new high speed, data rich services."

Ericsson and STC have enjoyed a multitude of successful partnerships over the past few years, and both companies are working closely together towards the maintenance and development of the telecommunications infrastructure across Saudi Arabia.