Ooredoo and Huawei extend strategic cooperation agreement

Ooredoo today announced a five-year extension of their strategic cooperation agreement with Huawei, which will see the two companies deepen their partnership to support Ooredoo’s market leadership across its footprint. The agreement was announced in Doha, Qatar and was signed by Ahmed Al Derbesti, COO of Ooredoo Group, and Eric Xu, Deputy Chairman of the Board and Rotating CEO of Huawei.

As part of the agreement, Huawei will provide a variety of solutions and professional services to benefit all Ooredoo Group’s operating companies, including advanced 2G, 3G, LTE, LTE-A, Antenna, Microwave, Virtualised Core and IP Multimedia Subsystem mobile broadband technologies. This agreement will enable the two organisations to collaborate in deploying best-in-class data, voice, multi-media, and other advanced services to help solidify Ooredoo’s market leadership in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia.

H.E Sheikh Saud bin Nasser Al Thani, Group CEO, Ooredoo, commented: “Our industry is changing faster than ever before, and we are evolving to capture these new opportunities and stay ahead of the curve. By expanding our relationship with industry leaders like Huawei, we are confident that Ooredoo can continue to offer a better customer experience, strengthen our foundations, and continue to launch new and innovative services that enrich people’s lives.”

Eric Xu, Deputy Chairman of the Board and Rotating CEO of Huawei, said: “Huawei welcomes a future of connected possibilities and openly cooperates with industry partners in more than 170 countries worldwide to build a better connected world. Huawei and Ooredoo have had the privilege to do this together for many years. We now look forward to renewing our partnerships around the globe, which can enable more people to participate in and benefit from technological innovation.”

Ooredoo is focused on building its data leadership across its footprint, recognising the exponential growth in demand for data services. Ooredoo currently has data leadership in a range of markets, including Algeria, Iraq, Qatar and Tunisia, and data services now represent 35 percent of Group revenue. The agreement with Huawei contains provisions for a streamlined approach to doing business, enabling Ooredoo to pioneer new services and solutions with greater agility while addressing challenges posed by rapid transformations in the global ICT industry.

Over the last decade Ooredoo and Huawei have cooperated on various milestone projects within the ICT sector. This has included working together to implement Ooredoo’s national Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) broadband network within Qatar, collaborating to deliver the fastest deployment of national fibre in the world. In recent years, Ooredoo has also cooperated with Huawei globally in countries such as Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, Tunisia, Myanmar, Maldives and Indonesia to deploy cutting-edge mobile broadband technologies.