SAMENA Telecommunications Council

Rain South Africa and Huawei are jointly accelerating the deployment of a sub-1 GHz Massive MIMO 5G network across South Africa, with plans to deploy a multi-thousand-site scale of commercial network. This marks a major breakthrough in wireless communications and opens a new chapter in the evolution of 5G, aiming to deliver ubiquitous, high-quality 5G connectivity to consumers across the country.

Currently, rain has achieved large-scale deployment of sub-1 GHz Massive MIMO in major cities across South Africa. The commercial results show that the uplink coverage is enhanced by 5 dB and the downlink coverage is enhanced by 3 dB, and the network capacity is increased by up to three times compared with conventional 4T4R equipment.

The deployment is the first large-scale commercial implementation of Massive MIMO technology in the sub-1 GHz FDD spectrum in South Africa, overcoming one of the industry's most significant technical challenges. While Massive MIMO has become the foundation of high-capacity 5G networks, extending the technology to low-band FDD spectrum has required years of innovation in antenna design, radio architecture, signal processing, and interference management.

Working closely together, Huawei and rain have successfully transformed this innovation into a live network. For the first time, low-band spectrum can deliver wide-area coverage and deep indoor pe*******on traditionally associated with lower frequencies, while simultaneously providing the substantial capacity and spectral efficiency gains of Massive MIMO.

This breakthrough enables operators to significantly improve user experience, increase network capacity, expand 5G coverage, and make more efficient use of valuable low-band spectrum. More importantly, it establishes a new blueprint for the future evolution of 5G networks worldwide.

The deployment continues Huawei's long history of advancing wireless technology through close collaboration with leading operators. By working with innovation partners like rain, Huawei is accelerating the commercial adoption of next-generation technologies that address real-world network challenges and create greater value for operators and consumers alike.
Read More...
https://www.samenacouncil.org/samena_daily_news?news=111393

Zain Group celebrated the graduation of a new cohort of GROW, its training program dedicated to fresh graduates with disabilities, in a step that reflects the company’s firm commitment to building a more inclusive and empowering workforce.

The ceremony was attended by Zain Kuwait CEO Nawaf Al-Gharabally, Zain Group executive management, and representatives of the program’s partners. This underscored the importance of integrating roles between the public, private, and academic sectors to support people with disabilities and contribute effectively to empowering their entry into the private sector. The occasion saw an inspiring video showcasing the journey of GROW participants.

In Kuwait, the program was delivered in collaboration with leading academic institutions, including Kuwait University (KU), Australian University (AU), American University of Kuwait (AUK), American University of the Middle East (AUM), Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST), INJAZ Kuwait, and CODED Academy.

GROW is one of Zain’s key initiatives dedicated to empowering young talent with disabilities to effectively enter the workforce and excel in the market. It offered a three-month paid internship experience that focused on developing practical skills across telecommunications, technology, and business administration, combining training, professional guidance, and hands-on experience in real work environments.

This year, the program attracted over 620 applicants groupwide, with 20 participants from Kuwait, Bahrain, Sudan, and South Sudan joining a three-month training and internship journey.

In Kuwait, participants were placed across five key teams: Customer Value Management (CVM), Channels, Human Resources, Infrastructure, and Corporate Affairs and Relations. The cohort included participants with different types of disabilities, including physical, visual, neurodivergent, and speech disabilities.

The first month featured intensive training in mindset transformation, artificial intelligence and data analysis, behavioral skills, technical skills, and disability confidence in the workplace, alongside an innovation camp delivered by INJAZ.

Each trainee was also assigned a mentor with a disability from Zain Masters, the company’s Employee Resource Group (ERG) for employees with disabilities, throughout the duration of the program. This mentorship aimed to strengthen disability confidence and support a culture of advocacy within the workplace.

In addition to receiving the program certificate from Zain, participants earned six additional certificates from the program’s partners: INJAZ Kuwait, CODED Academy, and PurpleSpace, the global networking and professional development platform for disabled employees.
Read More...
https://www.samenacouncil.org/samena_daily_news?news=111381

Eutelsat (ISIN: FR0010221234 – Euronext Paris / London Stock Exchange: ETL) and AST Networks, a provider of global satellite communications and network solutions, have signed a new multi-year, multi-million-dollar agreement for Eutelsat’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) connectivity services.

The agreement builds on an established partnership between the two companies and reflects the successful deployment of Eutelsat’s LEO services within AST Networks’ maritime connectivity solutions. To support growing customer demand, AST Networks will expand its use of Eutelsat’s OneWeb LEO services as part of the hybrid connectivity solutions it delivers to maritime customers worldwide.

Maritime operators increasingly require connectivity solutions that combine performance, resilience and global coverage to support vessel operations, crew welfare and digital applications at sea. By integrating Eutelsat’s OneWeb LEO services alongside complementary technologies, AST Networks is helping customers benefit from more flexible and resilient communications capabilities.

Thierry Polycarpe, VP Aero and Maritime Connectivity at Eutelsat, said: "This expanded agreement reflects both the strength of our partnership with AST Networks and the growing demand for LEO-enabled connectivity across the maritime sector. As vessel operators increasingly adopt hybrid connectivity architectures, Eutelsat’s LEO services are helping partners such as AST Networks deliver the performance, resilience and flexibility their customers require."
Read More...
https://www.samenacouncil.org/samena_daily_news?news=111361

Led by Huawei and industry partners, the OpenAN project has been officially released. Concurrently, the inaugural meeting of OpenAN’ s eight founding members was successfully held, where participants discussed the open-source community’s governance system and operation model, code contribution and version control rules, annual targets as well as implementation roadmaps.

Global Communication Service Providers (CSPs) have identified network agents as a core enabler to achieve Autonomous Networks (AN) Level 4, and are building comprehensive agent capabilities across the three-layers AN architecture. Nevertheless, they are confronted with prominent challenges including inconsistent interconnection standards, difficulties in cross-layer and cross-domain integration, and low reusability of common components.

Against this backdrop, the OpenAN project was launched. Targeting the accelerated delivery of smart link, agile build, large-scale collaboration and deterministic ex*****on of telecom agents, the project delivers a set of out-of-the-box open-source components. It will drive widespread adoption of the A2A-T standard and slash costs for agent development and integration.

Mr. Sam Wang, Co-chair of the Adopter Advisory Committee for LFN’s OpenAN Project, Member of the TM Forum AN MLT and General Manager of Huawei ADN Solution, stated:

“The core objective of the OpenAN project is to accelerate the delivery of AN Level 4. Guided by TM Forum’s Autonomous Network standards and backed by LFN’s outstanding community operation and global outreach, this project is poised for rapid advancement. We encourage industry partners worldwide to actively contribute to and adopt the open-source code, expedite component innovation and version iteration, and drive the extensive deployment of OpenAN deliverables within commercial solutions and live production networks.”
Read More...
https://www.samenacouncil.org/samena_daily_news?news=111312