ZTE Wins Saudi WiMAX Contract

ZTE says that it has won a WiMAX contract from Saudi Arabia based Etihad Atheeb Telecom (Atheeb) to construct a high-speed WiMAX network covering five major cities in Saudi Arabia, including Dammam and Khobar. In addition to about 300 WiMAX base stations, ZTE will also supply related equipment including IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystems)and MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching).

The network launched its WiMAX network earlier this month, based on hardware supplied by Motorola.

"Today we're extremely pleased to ink the contract with Etihad Atheeb Telecom. It marks a significant milestone for ZTE WiMAX products to support such as large scale nationwide network in Saudi Arabia. It's our great pleasure to work with Atheeb to create Saudi's largest WiMAX network," said Zhao Songpu, General Manager of WiMAX Product Line, ZTE Corporation. "ZTE is the leading pioneer in the WiMAX sector and has been leading the industry to propel the development and deployment of WiMAX. We are committed to providing the best products and services to our customers."

Etihad Atheeb Telecommunication is a joint venture between Bahrain's Batelco and the local Atheeb Trading Group. The company holds a fixed telecoms provider license, and was floated on the local stock market in Jan 2009. The consortium plans to invest US$1 billion by 2014.

Posted to the site on 19th June 2009