Kuwaiti telco Zain has entered into a new agreement with equipment vendor NEC and solutions integrator Middle East Telecommunications Company (METCO) in order to boost the capacity of its 2G, 3G and 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE)networks. Under the agreement NEC will upgrade Zain Kuwait’s backhaul transmission network to meet growing mobile broadband demand using its iPASOLINK series of advanced microwave radio solutions and network management system. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2014.
Noboru Takahashi, President of NEC Saudi Arabia, said: ‘As more people switch to LTE phones, it is vital that operators have the backhaul capacity to take the strain and deliver the high speed, high capacity mobile broadband experience consumers want. Far from just making calls, consumers now want to use their phones to do everything from streaming high definition videos to browsing the web.’