Qatar-based Ooredoo Group has signed five year contracts with Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and Huawei as it plans a massive infrastructure building programmes for networks in the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and Southeast Asia.

Alcatel-Lucent will supply full packet microwave, high bandwidth optical networking and IP routing systems and network management services for projects in Africa, the Middle-East and Asia-Pacific where, according to its COO Philippe Guillemot, there is a huge shift in demand for video, cloud-based services and ‘massive’ networking traffic growth.

Meanwhile, Ooredoo has signed a similar 5-year frame agreement with Ericsson for its radio, core and transmission equipment for building 2G, 3G and 4G networks. The technical brief for the contract also includes the installation and management of mobile soft switching and evolved packet core and Mini-Link microwave transmission equipment.

The agreement includes new Ericsson software and consultancy to help Ooredoo launch new functions and services across the mobile networks. Ericsson software’s ability to predefine packages is the best way to maximise network performance, according to Ooredoo. “It will allow us to differentiate our end user offering and will give us the competitive edge we need,” said Ooredoo Group COO Ahmed Al Derbesti.

In a third major deal with a telecoms equipment supplier, Ooredoo has extended its existing supplier agreement with Huawei. Like Ericsson Huawei will provide a variety of systems and services across the Ooredoo Group’s operating companies. Huawei will provide kit for 2G, 3G, LTE and LTE-A networks. The range of equipment will include antennae, microwave broadcast technology, virtualised core and IP multimedia subsystems for mobile broadband.

Ooredoo Goup’s data services in markets such as Algeria, Iraq, Qatar and Tunisia now represent 35% of its revenue. In a previous collaboration, Huawei installed Ooredoo’s national Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) broadband network in Qatar and created mobile broadband networks in Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, Tunisia, Myanmar, Maldives and Indonesia.