Zain Kuwait, the leading telecommunications provider in Kuwait and Chinese tech giant Huawei have confirmed their plans to launch a commercial LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network in Kuwait.
 
The announcement came at the Global Mobile Broadband Forum currently taking place in London
 
Zain’s next-generation wireless broadband network will eventually deliver speeds of up to 300 Mb/s, which is around twice the speed currently possible with existing LTE mobile networks. The rollout will see Zain Kuwait and Huawei activate over 100 LTE-A cell sites during a first phase, with Zain Kuwait indicating that the technology will later be made available across the country as more sites become operational.
 
"The deployment of this milestone commercial LTE-A network will jump start the next phase of mobile communications in the Middle East, providing mobile broadband customers across Kuwait an opportunity to enjoy unparalleled communication services," said Omar Al Omar, CEO of Zain Kuwait. "
 
Zain is currently a leader in the field of mobile broadband with a market share of around 39% in Kuwait with nearly 10% of its mobile customers having already migrated to 4G LTE. This number is expected to rise sharply in the coming months as more and more users are provided access to the opportunities offered by LTE-Advanced technology.
 
"New innovations in mobile broadband are increasingly shaping the future of Kuwait’s telecom market, and more importantly, these technologies are now seen as major enablers of continued economic and social development supporting the government’s vision for a knowledge-based economy," said  Mohamad Sharara, Head of Zain Key Account at Huawei.
 
The core technologies of the LTE-A platform that Huawei has deployed for Zain Kuwait include Carrier Aggregation (CA), which allows for full utilization of spectrum resources scattered across multiple frequency bands. Besides enabling high bandwidth, CA ensures backwards compatibility with LTE to facilitate a smooth and seamless migration.
 
Last year, Zain collaborated with Huawei to launch a commercial LTE network that delivers nationwide mobile coverage and is to date the country’s only nationwide LTE network. At the same time, Zain partnered with Huawei to provide the public with diversified LTE smart devices including smartphones, routers, hotspot MiFi and dongles. Earlier this year, Zain and Huawei also formalized an agreement to create a Joint Innovation Center in Kuwait to focus on LTE-based solutions for enterprises, machine-to-machine services and other service-based applications.