STC claims it will be the first company in the region to provide LTE services, covering 11 cities in Saudi Arabia initially and it said it expects to make significant improvements with regards to speed and quality of connection over time.
Considering Saudi Arabia’s high smartphone penetration, in addition to STC’s vast broadband subscriber rates, this development will prove welcome to customers to allow for faster download times, a better transfer of high-definition video and real time gaming.
“STC is committed to delivering innovative services to its subscribers and together with Alcatel-Lucent we are confident we will enrich our customers’ lives by offering a variety of services for consumers and businesses,” said Zeyad Al-Etaibi, CTO at STC. “Our customers will enjoy the benefits of 4G LTE through an enhanced mobile experience that is unmatched in the industry.”
Alcatel-Lucent was selected by the operator after it completed a successful trial in the northern region of Saudi Arabia for LTE services. Through its ngConnect program, Alcatel-Lucent is expected to enhance its partnership with STC by building an ecosystem of leading companies to provide content, applications and innovative services to meet subscriber needs.
Abdulrahman Al-Azzam, country senior officer at Alcatel-Lucent in the Saudi Arabia described the partnership as a “big win for Alcatel-Lucent in the Saudi market”. He added: “We are committed to providing STC with the most advanced LTE solution addressing the need to scale and manage network capacity to meet increasing bandwidth demands.”
