KUWAIT: Zain, the leading digital service provider in Kuwait, selected Cisco to deploy Standalone 5G, delivering high value for B2B services. The announcement was made during Zain's participation at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2022 in Barcelona, Spain. The agreement was attended by Zain Kuwait CEO Eaman Al-Roudhan, Zain Kuwait Chief Enterprise Business Officer Hamad Al-Marzouq, Zain Group CTO Nawaf Al-Gharabally, Cisco Vice President, Customer Experience, EMEAR Adele Trombetta, Cisco Vice President, Service Provider, Customer Experience, EMEAR Mario Sebastian Miguel, as well as Cisco SP Managing Director, MEA Region Mohammad Tantawi.

MWC is the GSMA's flagship mobile industry and technology event, and this year focused on a number of themes including 5G Connect, Advancing AI, CloudNet, FinTech, Internet of Everything, Tech Horizon, and more. Zain Kuwait's 5G traffic currently accounts for more than 40 percent of its total wireless traffic, ranking the operator as number one in GCC countries in terms of 5G offload ratio. Zain Kuwait is one of the leading telecom operators in MENA and has been at the forefront of innovation for years as the first operator to launch commercial 5G services in the Middle East.

Zain Kuwait acknowledged that Standalone (SA) is the future of 5G, allowing it to reach its full potential by increasing coverage and laying a foundation for applications that harness the fast speed and low latency of 5G. Zain's 5G development leads the Kuwait telecom market, and its business success has been a result of its overall strategic objective to provide first-class 5G services for users in Kuwait.

Cisco 5G SA will enable the introduction of a plethora of new Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) offerings, essentially cloud-enabled, usage-based business models that help enable Zain's customers to acquire and orchestrate network capabilities without creating, owning or maintaining their own network infrastructure.  Cisco new 5G SA core capability will allow Zain to monetize the security features tailored as value added security services for the enterprise market.

As a digital platform company, Zain will continue to make efforts to help drive Kuwait's Digital New Deal and ensure customers enjoy the best experiences and opportunities that 5G has to offer. Eaman Al-Roudhan, Chief Executive Officer, Zain Kuwait said: "We are taking a meaningful step in our 5G journey and look forward to delivering more transformative experiences to customers and businesses. We strive to help accelerate Kuwait's 5G vision to deliver socio-economic value and enhanced customers experiences across Kuwait and through the advancement of 5G".

Adam MacHale Vice President, EMEAR Service Provider, Cisco, said: "Cisco is proud to play a role in helping Zain Kuwait with its network technology innovation, offering differentiated 5G B2B and IoT services specifically suited to business's needs. Our proven flexible 5G SA architecture will enable Zain to offer its users 5G services with low latency and high capacity whilst providing secure, trusted solutions and establishing premium value with its customers".

Zain's strategy is centered around digital transformation leadership and empowering the community to enjoy a smarter portable lifestyle, as well as using advanced technology to enable an easier and more flexible life. The company places itself as an active partner to its customers in creating the future of smart life in Kuwait. Today's announcement contributes to proving the company's full potential in triggering the digital community and will enrich its collaborations in Telecom and IT areas with its strategic partners on multiple levels.