Nokia, Sudatel collaborating on delivery of ultra-broadband services in Sudan

Nokia and Sudatel are to trial Nokia 4.5G Pro, 4.9G and 5G mobile technologies along with Nokia's fixed fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) portfolio to enhance the mobile and residential broadband experience in Sudan. The collaboration will focus initially on the capital city of Khartoum.

Under its 2020 Strategy, Sudatel is focused on transforming its fixed access and mobile service offerings. The company wants to enhance the subscriber experience on any device, in the home and on-the-move with high-speed delivery of voice, data and video and fixed and mobile packages, as well as e-government, e-health and other consumer and business services.

Nokia and Sudatel will conduct several different use-case tests using Nokia fixed and mobile technologies in Nokia Laboratories in Espoo, Finland and Antwerp, Belgium. With an initial focus on enhancing mobile data services in Khartoum, the companies will evaluate how the 5G-ready AirScale radio access portfolio, can increase capacity and speeds today while providing a path to 5G in the future.

In addition, Sudatel will leverage Nokia's passive optical networking (PON) fiber solutions to enhance the residential broadband experience. The companies will conduct a high-speed fixed technology trial in Khartoum, starting in July.

Tarig Zain El Abdein, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sudatel Telecom Group, said: Sudatel is pleased to sign this strategic technology partnership with Nokia for the development of leading ultra-broadband services in Sudan and contribute to enhancing the Broadband Development Index. Bringing Nokia's technology expertise and innovations to Sudan is very strategic for us in the execution of our vision of becoming the most admired ICT provider in Africa."

Pierre Chaume, head of North & West Africa at Nokia, said: "We are able to offer a wide range of fixed and mobile technologies to meet our customers' business goals. Working together with Sudatel, we can leverage technologies that will support Sudatel's 2020 Strategy of becoming the most admired ICT provider in Africa, and enable them to deliver the services that meet the growing business and personal demands of their subscribers."