KUWAIT CITY – Zain, a leading mobile voice and data services operator with a commercial footprint in seven Middle Eastern and African markets, announces it has successfully completed the first live trial in the region of Open and Virtual Radio Access Network (Open RAN) in Kuwait.

This innovative achievement enhances Zain Kuwait's position on the global ICT map, and was Implemented in collaboration with both Mavenir, a leading network software provider building the future of networks with cloud-native software that runs on any cloud and transforms the way the world connects, and with Masiya, a leading system integrator in the Middle East and a long-time selected partner of Zain for over 21 years.

This successful live trial in Kuwait follows Zain Group's key contribution to the OpenRAN support MOU in 2021 with other leading regional mobile operators driving innovation across the Middle East.

Mavenir, in partnership with Masiya, Intel and Dell successfully deployed Mavenir Radios Units (RU), fully containerised Distributed Units (DUs) and Central Units (CUs) software on Mavenir's Webscale Platform (MWP) acting as a CaaS / PaaS layer running on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware from Intel and Dell.

The benefit of Open RAN for Zain's Group in Kuwait will be widespread, as they will receive the latest products and services at a faster time to market while using the latest mobile access networks. Moreover, this technology will enhance Zain's cloud offerings and brings Artificial Intelligence (AI) to the forefront.

Read the full press release here.

Mavenir