+ A
A -
Satyendra Pathak
Doha
Ooredoo Qatar will carry out lab trials of 5G technologies on its network by the end of this year, the company's chief operating officer said on Wednesday.
Ooredoo Qatar COO Yousuf Abdulla al Kubaisi told Qatar Tribune that the telecom operator would work with a number of equipment suppliers including Huawei, Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent on the trials.
"The trial will be a big opportunity to see and experience what a customer will get with a 5G offering in Qatar," Kubaisi said.
The trial would be conducted at Ooredoo's 5G R&D Centre in Doha, Kubaisi said, adding that the success of the trial would pave way for Ooredoo to launch 5G services in Qatar much before its expected commercial launch in 2020 globally.
Kubaisi said Ooredoo was also in talks with a number of mobile manufactures, such as Apple, Samsung and Huawei, to work on devices that would support 5G speed.
"As far as Ooredoo's preparations for launching 5G network in Qatar are concerned, we are far ahead of our competitors in the entire Middle East. We are prepared to launch 5G in Qatar as soon as it is standardised and available commercially. There will be no delay from our side as we are committed to bringing the latest technology to Qatar before any other country in the world," he said.
Ooredoo was the first telecom operator to launch 4G+ speed successfully throughout the Middle East region, Kubaisi said, adding that the operator's 5G R&D centre was aimed at speeding up the process of 5G standardisation across the globe.
Ooredoo Qatar CEO Waleed al Sayed has recently told Qatar Tribune that the company had invested over $1 billion in infrastructure upgrades to provide 5G services in Qatar much before other countries in the region.
