Zain, a leading telecommunications company in Kuwait, has announced the successful testing of the first 4.5G mobile broadband technology in the Middle East on its advanced network. The test was carried out in strategic partnership with Huawei and saw the operator's network reach high speeds of 1 gigabyte per second.

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Since Zain serves the largest customer base in the country, the company expects this technology to spearhead the next phase of mobile evolution in Kuwait and enable individuals, corporate, and government entities to enjoy increasingly faster connected and intelligent services.

The total traffic consumption worldwide has increased since 4G LTE network became available last year because customers are spending more time online streaming content, using e-commerce tools, and enjoying ultra-high definition videos among other things. Zain is testing 4.5G mobile broadband in order to deliver customers faster speeds, better functionality, and lower latency than the current best available 4G technologies.

Zain Kuwait's Chief Executive Officer Eaman Al Roudhan said that the company is keen to be the first in the region to build the necessary expertise to test this advanced technology and achieve successful results in preparation to launch it commercially.

Zain plans to provide new services in its strategic partnership with Huawei using 4.5G technology that includes voice over LTE (VoLTE) and Narrow band IoT machine-to-machine applications. President Li Dafeng of Huawei Middle East and Africa said that the 4.5G standard represents a necessary bridge between the current 4G mobile services and the company's long-term vision for 5G connectivity that is going to be commercialized by 2020.

In June 2014, Zain and Huawei launched a Joint Innovation Center in Kuwait which serves as a research hub from which Zain is advancing its mobile broadband network, services, and applications offered to customers in Kuwait and across the region.

TagsZain, zain telecomunication company, Huawei, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., 4.5g mobile broadband