STC, Nokia Siemens Networks forging fruitful partnership

Saudi Telecom Company (STC) once again teamed up with Nokia Siemens Networks to ensure millions of Haj pilgrims enjoyed the best possible mobile service.
Nokia Siemens Networks successfully ensured STC’s network performance remained high with 99.9 percent network availability, despite the huge increase in the traffic.
As the sole GSM and 3G radio supplier, Nokia Siemens Networks provided STC with its Single Radio Access Network (RAN) and Special Event Support Services (SESS).
The unique event, with an extremely high-number of mobile users, involves the movement of millions of people creates high-density traffic, requiring SESS to maintain optimal network performance under exceptional conditions.
“We take great pride in maintaining a strong mobile connectivity for the millions of pilgrims, facilitating their rituals, and providing them with an exceptional Haj experience,” said Bandar M. Alqafari, vice president Networks Sector at STC.
“Consistent with the remarkable increase in smartphone penetration, Haj 2012 witnessed the biggest mobile broadband demand ever,” said Alqafari.
Alqafari added: “We employed all our expertise and resources to ensure smooth calls and Internet traffic, as evident by the processing of more than 2750 terabytes in the Internet traffic, and the boosting of our network capacity by more than 60 percent and increasing its capability to serve more than 26 million users, equivalent to the network capacity of several countries.”
Alqafari said: “Adequate preparations for every Haj season are the key to achieving our goals. Our fruitful partnership with Nokia Siemens Networks helped us achieve these goals.”
Hani Dib, STC customer team head at Nokia Siemens Networks, said: “Nokia Siemens Networks understands the importance of Haj for millions of Muslims and how essential it is to make sure STC’s network performance remains optimal during the pilgrimage.”
The STC official said: “Between October 24 and 27, 2012, voice traffic increased by over 40 percent and data traffic by over 100 percent compared to previous year’s Haj. Even though we had less spectrum during Haj 2012 compared to previous years, the network performance exceeded the previous years’ performance.”