Page 19 - SAMENA Trends - August 2020

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

The fight against Covid19 initiatives and local companies to facilitate the • Strengthened its networks to keep
implemented by Omantel: distance learning for governmental pace with the increased demand from
• To support the national efforts to and private educational institutions individuals and businesses for various
confront the pandemic led by the in addition to the students in various telecom services. Improvements
Ministry of Health, Omantel procured school and university academic included the expansion of the fixed
24,000 COVID-19 test equipment and institutions. and mobile networks (3G and 4G) by
providing technical support to the • Provided free browsing of educational increasing the capacity of existing
parallel call center of the Ministry. sites of the Ministry of Education, the sites and adding new sites in addition
• Assisted various business sectors to Ministry of Higher Education, under to increasing Internet capacity. During
ensure the continuity of their businesses EDU.OM domain. the period February to end of June
especially during a period at which the • Launched a digital educational platform 2020, Omantel added 77 new sites to
economic activities were closed. for all schools in the Sultanate in the 5G network, upgraded 42 sites from
• Innovative ICT solutions enabled cooperation with Google. 3G to 4G. Omantel also added 26 new
the acceleration of the digital • Provided 3000 free local minutes and 30 stations to 3G and 4G networks, and
transformation in different sectors and GB free for health workers, in addition to increased the capacity of 23 sites in
businesses. Among these initiatives encouraging individuals to stay home to the 4G network in various governorates
were the free subscription to virtual avoid the spread of the virus by giving across the Sultanate.
collaboration platforms such as them free local calls, doubling the Omantel said that these preliminary
Webex, Microsoft team and Igtimaati speed of home internet and increasing results are unaudited and are subject
platforms and reducing the burden of the speed of wireless home broad band to the approval of the Audit Committee
the pandemic on the SME sector such packages and 5G packages. and the Board of Directors in their next
as the postponement of its monthly • Offered alternative innovative solutions meetings which will be held within the
payments for a period of three months. to enable its customers to order services statuary period as stipulated by Capital
• Omantel worked through its existing via digital channels namely, Omantel Market Authority.
partnerships with many international App, portal and the 24/7 call center.

Zain Receives ‘Kuwait’s Fastest Fixed Broadband

Network’ Award for Q1-Q2

Zain, the leading digital service provider in 5G technology in the GCC region via the platform, is the global leader in fixed
Kuwait, received ‘Kuwait’s Fastest Fixed Kuwaiti market with nationwide coverage broadband and mobile network testing
Broadband Network’ award for Q1-Q2 of all areas. The company succeeded in applications, data and analysis. Every day,
2020 from Speedtest by Ookla, the global designing the first integrated network over ten million unique tests are actively
leader in transparent Internet testing for 5G services built on a world-class initiated by Speedtest’s users, making it a
applications, data and analysis. Zain took infrastructure, ultimately transforming reliable source for measuring the quality
this opportunity to launch a limited time the telecom sector across the country and performance of Internet networks
offer with unlimited 5G Internet downloads and region. Ookla, the company behind around the world. Since its founding in
along with a number of revolutionary the renowned Speedtest Internet testing 2006, an unparalleled total of more than
Internet devices, including Huawei’s next
generation of fixed routers; Huawei 5G CPE
PRO 2, as well as the Zain 5G HUB; powered
by HTC, and more. Zain expressed its pride
in this prestigious achievement from Ookla,
the global leader that is widely considered
to be the first, most transparent, and
most reliable source for Internet testing
applications, data and analysis around
the world. The achievement reflects Zain’s
efforts in offering the largest and most
powerful 5G network in Kuwait since
commercially launching fifth generation
wireless technology (5G) back in June
2019. Zain was the first operator to offer

19 AUGUST 2020