Ooredoo Qatar claims milestone for private networks in Middle East

Ooredoo Qatar has announced it has successfully reached what it calls a significant milestone by establishing the first private wireless network in the region for the energy sector.

Ooredoo is an international communications company serving consumers and businesses in 10 countries across the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia – Qatar, Indonesia, Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Palestine, Tunisia, Myanmar and the Maldives. In 2021, the operator signed a five-year deal with Nokia to provide multiple technologies and services, including 5G, based on the AirScale radio platform.

Two years later, Ooredoo Group extended the partnership to enhance its networks in Algeria and Tunisia, upgrading the existing radio access networks (RAN) as well as deploying new sites across the two countries.

The project, described as first-of-its-kind, will aim to provide dedicated voice and customer data services in the most remote and challenging locations.

The deployed service, using Nokia communications technology specifically designed for offshore locations, covers an initial capacity of 20,000 subscribers for the offshore grid. It aims to connect offshore and onshore facilities, ensuring “seamless” voice and data services. Nokia said its enterprise offering, coupled with delivery capabilities, ensures the energy sector can now rely on a connectivity service that brings innovation, efficiency and reliability.

By offering dedicated connectivity, Nokia said Ooredoo’s network will empower customers to digitise and automate operations, marking a significant step towards enhanced efficiency and productivity. As part of the deployment, Nokia will supply communication products that are tailored to deliver resilient mission-critical connectivity, along with deployment and care services, with its resident engineers providing expert support to ensure the network operates at optimal level.

It offers a native offshore system designed to deliver services, integrating effectively with the existing commercial core, and enabling customers to improve operational efficiency and reduce interruptions from onshore connectivity.

The integration is also intended to enable the efficient handling of interoperability and interservice handovers, making communication between offshore and onshore locations smoother and more reliable than ever before, while managing latency issues through localised data services to improve process efficiency. It will also improve customer experience by replacing older Wi-Fi and WiMAX technologies.

“This significant milestone underlines our commitment to transforming communication solutions for challenging environments,” said Günther Ottendorfer, Ooredoo’s chief technology innovation officer for Qatar. “This landmark project provides dedicated voice and data services, and paves the way for the oil and gas sector and others to replicate such solutions, marking a new era in connectivity for the industry.”