Nokia shares Saudi success stories with STC and Aramco

Nokia has announced the results of a successful optical transmission trial with state-run oil company Aramco.

Equipped with the Finnish kit maker's sixth generation Photonic Service Engine (PSE-6), they reached 2.4 Tbps – the maximum possible speed per line card – on Aramco's existing fibre network. The speed was achieved on dispersion-shifted fibre, which is designed to minimise signal attenuation and – as the name suggests – dispersion.

"Our collaboration with Nokia has assisted in enhancing our optical network infrastructure. This successful demonstration shows that our fibre network is well-equipped to handle the growing demand for high-capacity traffic securely, as we look to future-proof our operations for next-generation technologies," said Nabil Nuaim, senior vice president of digital and IT at Aramco.

"This field trial underscores our commitment to innovation and delivering cutting-edge technology to our customers," added Carlo Corti, head of optical networks, Middle East and Africa, at Nokia. "Our PSE-6 super-coherent optics' capabilities, including its fibre sensing technology, assist in ensuring that Aramco's network is not only highly efficient but also future-proofed for evolving demands."

The trial comes hot on the heels of Nokia winning a deal to deploy a wholesale dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) network for Ooredoo in neighbouring Oman.

Powered by Nokia's 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS), the network will provide high-speed, low-latency connectivity for hyperscalers and wholesale customers, and enable similarly zippy traffic flow to and from global destinations. The network is due to be up and running by March 2025.

Nokia's optical operation isn't the only division that's been busy in the Middle East.

Nokia Bell Labs Consulting, together with Saudi incumbent STC, has taken the wraps of a generative AI (GenAI) proof-of-concept that is designed to automate various aspects of service provision.

Its working title is 'AI for Provisioning Services' (the marketing department pulled an all-nighter for that one, didn't it?), and Nokia claims it can approximately halve not only time to market, but also development costs.

That's because it can handle the complex task of coordinating the configuration of multiple systems and resources – comprised of multiple technologies from different vendors – all at once, resulting in a telco that can respond to the evolving needs of consumer and enterprise customers in agile fashion.

"By introducing generative AI, we hope to revamp the service provisioning process. We look forward to developing more ground-breaking solutions with STC Group that can unlock new business opportunities for industrial operations in Saudi Arabia and beyond," said Tariq Al-Harbi, VP of cloud and network services global business centre, Saudi Arabia, at Nokia.

Of course, the big question regarding all this success that Nokia is having in Saudi Arabia is when can we expect similar such announcements from Ericsson?

It says something about the cut-and-thrust nature of today's telco vendor market (excluding China) that when one of the big two announces a win, the other quickly chimes in with an announcement of its own.

Ericsson bags a network modernisation contract with Chunghwa in Taiwain, and days later Nokia reveals it too has won new business from Chunghwa, and follows it up by announcing a similar partnership with Taiwan Mobile.

In Vietnam, Nokia's 5G deal with Viettel was quickly followed by Ericsson announcing that it had won an even bigger contract from Viettel. Nokia swiftly hit back, announcing a 5G partnership with Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT).

Last month, Nokia won a billion-dollar deal with Bharti Airtel. Fast forward to this week, and Ericsson is trumpeting its own Bharti mega-deal.

It's understandable that publicly-listed outfits like Nokia and Ericsson want to counter any notion that one may have ceded ground to the other, particularly when network revenues are on the slide.

And given that operators like to spread risk by working with multiple vendors, it provides Nokia and Ericsson with ample opportunities to fight their respective corners – much to the amusement of industry commentators.