ZAIN Saudi Arabia announced Sunday that it has signed a 3-year managed field-services agreement with Ericsson, who will be responsible for the field operations and maintenance of all Zain's 2, 3 and 4G radio network sites across Saudi Arabia. The agreement, which marks Zain's first partnership with Ericsson in Saudi Arabia, will allow Zain to focus resources toward initiatives that better serve its customers in regard to ubiquitous service delivery at the highest international standards and at a level not currently experienced in the Kingdom. Fraser Curley, CEO of Zain Saudi Arabia, said: “ We have placed significant focus this year on improving operational efficiencies whilst at the same time ensuring our overall customer experience improves dramatically. This has seen us improve the network redundancy and resilience, and give greater emphasis to the strategic development of the network infrastructure for future growth in data, particularly as demand for our very successful 4G service rapidly increases. We have transferred the day-to-day operations and maintenance services of Zain's active and passive field infrastructure across the Kingdom – including corrective and preventive maintenance services - to Ericsson. This allows us to develop our core engineering and technology skills in the more strategic business areas that will allow us to provide greater differentiation in advanced products and services, and provide the Kingdom's premier customer experience.” Ali Eid, President of Ericsson, Saudi Arabia, said: “In order to proactively handle the evolution towards a Networked Society in Saudi Arabia, when everything that can benefit from a connection will be connected, network performance and managing the customer expectations have become more important than ever. Our new partnership with Zain will enable Zain to strengthen their competitive edge through improving network availability, reliability and capacity.” In September 2011, Zain launched the Kingdom's first commercial 4G LTE network that today is a benchmark across the region, given its speed and reliability. Zain's network has been independently selected as the best 4G network in Saudi Arabia during the recent 2013 Telsa awards. Globally, Ericsson is the industry leader in managed services, having signed more than 300 contracts in more than 100 countries. — SG
