Ooredoo First In The World to Launch 5G Commercial Network

Ooredoo has announced that the company is the first operator in the world to launch a live 5G network on the 3.5GHz spectrum band.

The announcement was made at an event attended by Ooredoo senior management at the Ooredoo Tower in West Bay. Attendees were also briefed on the first 5G site which was accomplished just days after new 5G Commercial Core Network was activated. Their 5G network is the first commercially available in the world and is an important technological breakthrough for the telecommunications industry worldwide.

“Today, Ooredoo and Qatar make history. We are the first company in the world to offer access to 5G technology and services, and the people of Qatar are the first to have access to the incredible benefits this technological upgrade will bring. We dedicate this important milestone to the people of Qatar and to our beloved leaders, who have encouraged this step in building the knowledge-based economy of Qatar,“ said Waleed Al Sayed, CEO, Ooredoo Qatar, and Deputy CEO, Ooredoo Group.

The first stage of 5G Supernet deployment will cover an area from The Pearl Qatar to Hamad International Airport, with Lagoona, Katara Cultural Village, West Bay, the Corniche and Souq Waqif also included in the initial commercial launch coverage area. The Ooredoo 5G service offers the latest network technology meaning much higher speeds, capacity, and better latency, than existing cellular systems. The new network will bring advantages over the previous generations of cellular technology and will enable business and consumer customers to unlock more of their potential and explore opportunities that were simply not possible before 5G.

In becoming the first company in the world to deploy commercial 5G, Ooredoo has built upon an impressive number of earlier milestones, including the first-in-the-region trials of 5G on Qatar National Day in 2016, the completion of 10 5G-ready base stations in May 2017, and the launch of the 5G Business services trial in partnership with Qatar Airways in November 2017. Access to the Ooredoo 5G Supernet will require a 5G compatible device from Ooredoo. The company has announced that this is just the beginning of the network, which will continue to be expanded over the coming months to cover even more areas of Qatar.