STC Picks Altiostar to Test Open RAN Network in MENA

STC, in collaboration with its partners STC Solutions and Altiostar, became the first operator in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to run live O-RAN sessions.

O-RAN is a revolutionary technology that promises to change the landscape of wireless service offerings. O-RAN runs on virtualized and modular software cloud-based technologies, delivering solutions in a quick and efficient manner.

The test of O-RAN marks another milestone in STC’s drive towards excellence, strengthening its position as the leading operator in the MENA region, having previously been the first operator to launch commercial 5G services in 2018.

With O-RAN, STC will provide the foundation for next-generation wireless networks, improving the quality of many real-time services and enabling an endless number of use cases in a fully virtualized network infrastructure, aiding interoperability, diversity and open ecosystem.

O-RAN will keep STC in line with its strategic drive for a bright digital future aligning with its DARE strategy and being an essential ingredient of the Kingdom’s drive towards digitization, which is an instrumental element of the Kingdom’s 2030 vision.

Eng. Khaled Aldharrab, VP, Infrastructure, STC, said: “Open RAN is a large and crucial part of STC’s future virtualized infrastructure. This technology is promising to change the way we currently think of Network solutions, providing: Openness, disaggregation, speed, efficiency and reduced time to market. The future of Cloud-Native, modular software and Micro-services will go far in addressing the customers high expectations and delivering our future vision.”