MUNICH -- SabaFon, the leading mobile operator in Yemen, has awarded Siemens Communications multiple contracts to upgrade, expand and modernize its GSM services. Involving a total volume of US$ 28 million, the contracts cover both the deployment of EDGE technology as well as the implementation of GPRS and a new charging system. The technology and infrastructure will be ready for operation by the end of 2 0 04. This is the second EDGE contract for Siemens in the Middle East and its fourteenth worldwide.
“We have been satisfied with Siemens’ professional performance since the outset of SabaFon’s operations, reflecting the progression of our solid and fundamental partnership from one achievement to the next,” said H.E. Sheikh Hameed Al Ahmar, the Chairman of SabaFon . “We embarked upon deploying a wealth of value added service offerings that would enable our more than 800.000 subscribers to enjoy Next Generation services on par with those offered by international operators. We have elaborated ambitious plans for the future and we look forward to seeing Siemens as a part of it,” added SabaFon CEO Tarik Al-Haidary.
The network upgrade by the end of 2004 will allow SabaFon to serve another 250,000 subscribers while at the same time extending its service offerings. In addition to mobile telephony, the operator will then also be able to provide both prepaid and postpaid customers with Internet access, multimedia services, v ideo streaming, push and talk, instant messaging or location based services on their handsets at correspondingly high send and receive speeds of up to 400 kilobits per second.
“We are pleased to have this opportunity to further strengthen our longstanding and close relationship with SabaFon, a pioneer in latest technology,” said Christoph Caselitz, the President of the Mobile Networks Division at Siemens Communications. “This is the second EDGE-order in the Middle East for Siemens and marks a further step in positioning itself in this dynamic and competitive market.” Siemens is presently the number two mobile communications technology provider in the Middle East and – with fourteen EDGE orders worldwide – one of the world’s leading technology providers in this field.
Siemens Communications Group