• A first, new 120-channel, ultra-broadband, end-to-end optical backbone network in the region

Riyadh, 11 Oct 2020 - The Consortium of the main Saudi Telecom carriers, Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) and Integrated Telecom Company (ITC) signed the agreement of the Saudi National Fiber Network (SNFN) modernization project with their partner Huawei. By building the first 5G and B2B-driven, ultra-broadband optical backbone network in the Middle East, the SNFN project will contribute to the end-to-end network transformation and agile automation strategy as part of the 2030 Vision of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Already launched in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 5G has started bringing an avalanche of new business opportunities. The SNFN Consortium, established in 2007 by Mobily, Bayanat Al-Oula and ITC to become a main carrier in the Kingdom, has started modernizing its entire transport network in order to become the most competitive in the Saudi Market and to add more value to end-users. The new network shall offer comprehensive features to address the enormous challenges facing the emerging 5G era and the ever-increasing business traffic demand with stringent Service Level Agreements (SLAs). The state-of-the-art solution provided by Huawei offers the first end-to-end 120-channels in the region. Each channel carries ultra-high and evaluative capacity from 200/400Gbps and above. Furthermore, the Consortium’s next-generation network will provide customers a full resilient, end-to-end network with flexible and automatic service provisioning.

“Flexible traffic adjustment and abundant protection SLAs offered by SNFN are very attractive to B2B scenarios and use-cases, which really evolves Mobily/ITC Ultra-Broadband optical backbone network” commented Alaa Malki, CTO of Mobily.

“Massive embedded AI monitoring and proactive network health mechanisms will help reduce the long time-to-market and delivery time to a few seconds and improve the service availability and enhanced Customer Experience,” said Ahmed Al-Anqari, CTO of ITC.
 

"Huawei has maintained its technological innovation in the optical network field,” commented Richard Jin, President of Huawei Transmission & Access Product Line, adding “the Ultra C band 120-channels’ first commercial use in the Middle East indicates that the WDM backbone network has entered into the ultra-high-speed of 200G/400G era. In the future, we will keep on supporting Mobily/ITC in coping with service challenges in the 5G era by improving transport network performance to provide the best service experience and achieve greater business success."

This agreement will strengthen the long-term strategic partnership between Consortium members and Huawei towards fulfilling the 2030 Vision by creating more success stories in the region and enriching the digitalization of society.