Ooredoo Group and Nokia has announced coming into a strategic partnership to help drive an enhanced customer experience.
Following successful discussions at a top-level meeting at Ooredoo Headquarters, Ooredoo Group and Nokia signed two agreements as part of a strategic partnership intended to drive Ooredoo’s digital transformation and enhance experiences for its customers.
The partnership aims to enable exploration of future areas of collaboration, strengthen the business engagement that will support Ooredoo’s strategy and boost the experience Ooredoo can deliver to its customers.
Enhancements to customer experience would include access to the latest technology solutions and innovative digital product offerings such as smart home services and Internet of Things (IoT). In addition, customers will be able to access the latest device portfolios, the highest grades of security and reliability while using Ooredoo’s services, and a superior connectivity and network speeds.
The new Group Framework Supply Agreement (GFSA) – representing the continuation of the long-standing contractual relationship that already exists between the two parties – will cover several categories in Networks for supply of, among others, RAN, core and transport products and services, as well as Nokia’s latest radio technology, the AirScale radio portfolio that Ooredoo deploys in some markets already. The new GFSA will be rolled out to all of Ooredoo Group’s operating companies and will be valid for five years.
The amendment to the GFSA for Devices will cover Customer Premise equipment for 4G, 5G and fixed. Potential length of this agreement will be three years and initially include Ooredoo operating companies in Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Tunisia, Maldives and Iraq.
Nokia’s visit to Ooredoo, representing the first face-to-face meeting between the executives, took place recently at Ooredoo Headquarters in Doha. Senior representatives of Nokia – including President and CEO Pekka Lundmark, Chief Customer Experience Officer Ricky Corker, SVP MEA Amr K. El Leithy and Head of Global Customer Business Team for Ooredoo Group Samer Lutfi – met with their counterparts at Ooredoo; Group Managing Director Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, Deputy Group CEO and CEO of Ooredoo Qatar Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulla Al Thani, Group CPO Christian Linhart, Group CTO Nigel Thomas Byrne and Group Senior Director Sourcing Capabilities, Performance and Partnerships Saad Sabah Al-Kuwari.
“We were delighted to welcome the Nokia team to our Headquarters in Doha. Ooredoo launched the world’s first commercial 5G network in 2018 and this partnership with Nokia is allowing us to keep ahead. Nokia’s FastMile 5G devices will allow us to extend the reach of our 5G wireless network into the home environment to enable Smart Home and IoT connectivity for customers. We believe this solution will greatly enhance our customers’ internet experience across our global footprint.”
Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, Managing Director, Ooredoo Group
Under the GFSAs, Ooredoo’s operating companies will be able to access the latest technology developments and will benefit from Nokia’s position as a global technology innovator. From a 5G perspective, the GFSAs will enable access to Nokia’s vast global experience and research and development power, driving development of new use cases to monetise investments. Furthermore, operating companies will also be able to access Nokia’s latest CPE devices portfolio.
“We are excited to continue delivering robust networks to Ooredoo’s customers. We want to accelerate the benefits of Nokia’s technology – including 5G – for consumers in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia, and enable businesses to digitalize and innovate with new services. The move to 5G will drive digital transformation and innovation across industries, communities and public services, and we are proud to continue supporting Ooredoo Group on this journey.”
Pekka Lundmark, President and Chief Executive Officer, Nokia
