The increased capacity now available within the Riyadh metropolitan area will enable high-bandwidth services and supports Mobily’s declared intention to focus on innovation and technological development.
“The demand for bandwidth coming from Saudi businesses is growing steadily, and applications services are fuelling a significant portion of this growth,” said Abdul Aziz Al Tamami, CEO at Mobily.
The Riyadh network was upgraded by Ciena Corporation, which provides Mobily with its metro networks infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. The service uses Ciena’s ActivFlex 6500 platform, and is designed to provide increased flexibility in capacity, allowing operators to upgrade their network from 10Gbps to 40Gbps or 100Gbps with minimal network changes and investment. “Traditionally, operators would have to build a completely new 100Gbps network as overlay to their 10Gbps network,” said Mashood Ahmad, regional MD of Ciena. “With our platform, it’s simply a matter of taking out a 10Gbps card and slotting a 100Gbps card in its place.”
The flexibility of the system will enable Mobily to be responsive to changing demands. “It’s very important to have the capacity available before the demand actually hits,” said Rick Talbot, senior analyst at Current Analysis. “This will allow Mobily to respond to demand very quickly.”
Ciena will also carry out a 100Gbps upgrade to the terrestrial link of the SEA-ME-WE 4 cable between Alexandria and Suez in Egypt.
