Connectivity, enterprise and govt services partnership will benefit in the future from 5G investments in the region
Zain Group’s digital enterprise and government-focused arm ZainTech has announced a strategic go-to-market partnership with Emirati operator du that will allow both companies to offer customers a suite of solutions including sustainability (IoT), drones-as-a-service, data practices, cloud managed services and app modernization, as well as international connectivity.
“This strategic agreement represents an acknowledgment that ZainTech and du share common values and ambitions,” said ZainTech CEO Andrew Hanna (pictured above, left). “I’m confident that our collaboration will drive innovation and sustainable growth in the UAE by enabling businesses and governments to embrace ESG principles and leverage cutting-edge technologies to accelerate their digital transformation journeys, streamline operations, and achieve tangible business outcomes.”
“This strategic partnership with ZainTech underscores our commitment to delivering innovative and comprehensive solutions that address the evolving needs of our customers,” said du CEO Fahad Al Hassawi (pictured above, right). “By combining our strengths, we will empower organizations to make data-driven decisions, harness the potential of the cloud, and leverage advanced technologies like IoT and DaaS to drive transformative growth in the UAE.”
Beyond the enterprise offers the partnership continues Kuwait-based Zain Group’s recent connectivity tie-ups, most recently with Omantel where the two said they wanted to become the Middle East’s premier international wholesale services provider, via their Zain Omantel International joint-venture.
5G makes big strides across region
Zain’s new partnership coincides with Opensignal’s June 5G benchmarking for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) markets showing that mobile infrastructure investments are delivering results.
In five of the markets, average 5G download speeds top 200Mbps, with only users in Oman missing out. In Qatar, average 5G download speeds are even higher at 312Mbps. 5G peak download speeds are even more impressive, with every market seeing peak speeds more than 500Mbps and Bahrain topping the region with a 5G peak download score of 1163.4Mbps. Upload speeds remain much more modest as operators and network vendors have targeted download speeds initially.
As a result, 5G users’ experience is considerably better than using 4G across all GCC markets. Across the region average download speeds are between 5.2 times faster (Oman) up to 10.8 times faster (Kuwait) with 5G compared with 4G – with much of the gain attributed to new spectrum bands.
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait saw the biggest jump across the GCC in video experience using 5G. With mobile video streaming there were also significant increases in every market. In three GCC markets, 5G users spend more than one fifth of their time with an active 5G connection.
Top is Kuwait with a 5G availability of 39.4%. However, the GCC market with the largest land area — Saudi Arabia with 23.5% 5G availability — is part of this leading group, which is impressive given its size.