Nokia and Ooredoo Qatar deploy AirScale-powered 4.5G Pro technology to boost network performance

Doha, Qatar - Nokia and Ooredoo Qatar have deployed Nokia 4.5G Pro technology to increase mobile data speeds to up to 800 Mbps for Ooredoo`s customers in some of the busiest areas of Qatar`s capital city.

With this deployment, Ooredoo Qatar becomes the first operator in the Ooredoo Group, and one of the first operators in the world, to launch 4.5G Pro services with Nokia.

The deployment of Nokia 4.5G Pro technology will enable Ooredoo to satisfy growing data demands in cultural, business and tourist hubs of Doha, including the Doha Corniche, Katara and West Bay areas as well as The Pearl-Qatar, an artificial island with a unique and innovative urban development in Doha.

The technology is powered by the Nokia AirScale radio platform and the deployment leverages two component carrier aggregation with 4x4 MIMO antenna technology and 256 QAM to deliver the peak 800 Mbps speeds. Ooredoo plans to acquire new spectrum and incorporate additional carrier aggregation to enable Gigabit data speeds for customers using devices that will be made available later this year. Ooredoo has continued to upgrade its nationwide Ooredoo Supernet in recent months, boosting speeds, improving latency and enhancing the customer experience.

In a demonstration of 4.9G technology at Mobile World Congress 2017, Nokia showed Ooredoo how data speeds could be increased to 3Gbps in the future. Nokia 4.9G technology will be commercially available toward the end of 2017 and will allow leading operators like Ooredoo Qatar to evolve their networks on the path to 5G, meeting demands in the most densely populated megacities.

Waleed Al-Sayed, Chief Executive Officer of Ooredoo Qatar, said: "We are committed to providing our customers with the best possible data experience by deploying the latest and best technology on the Ooredoo Supernet. Data traffic continues to grow across our network and working with Nokia we can leverage the higher speeds enabled by 4.5G Pro now - and further boost speeds in the future with 4.9G when it becomes commercially available - to satisfy these demands."

Bernard Najm, head of the Middle East Market Unit at Nokia, said: "We are delighted to continue our long history of collaborating with Ooredoo on this deployment. We are showing how our customers can use our technology to deliver performance boosts in the most demanding areas as they evolve their networks on the path to 5G."