ZTE Corporation, a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, reached an agreement on strategic cooperation with MEA's leading operator MTN Group. Both sides signed the Memorandum of Understanding related to collaboration on 5G network architectures during Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona.
According to the agreement, both parties, on the basis of existing cooperation, will jointly conduct a series of technology verification tests and assessments in 5G, to strengthen MTN's leading position and accelerate the commercialization of 5G in MEA.
As a leading provider of end-to-end 5G solutions in the industry, ZTE will provide MTN Group comprehensive technical support. Specifically, in phase one test in 2018, ZTE will collaborate with MTN to complete both lab and field tests in 5G NR, 5G virtualized network slicing, carrier-class DevOps and container-based vEPC, and 5G Flexhaul bearer network.
With these tests in end-to-end networks, applications and terminals, the two parties will complete the joint verification of 5G technology architecture, business model and user experience, expecting to lay a solid foundation for MTN Group to take the lead in 5G deployment in MEA.
"ZTE has always been a long-term strategic partner of MTN Group. After extensive partnerships on 2G, 3G and 4G, we are excited to be collaborating with ZTE on 5G. We believe 5G is an evolutionary step in getting connectivity, data and access to our customers. We are looking forward to continuing our journey in the 5G innovations and through that, we can strengthen existing cooperation and jointly explore the future direction of network construction and technology evolution, and bring services to our customers. MTN and ZTE always think about the customers at the first priority. Providing best services to customers is more important than technology and efficiency." said Babak Fouladi, CTIO of MTN Group.
Xu Huijun, CTO of ZTE, said: "As the world's leading provider of ICT solutions, ZTE pioneers in the field of 5G, our core strategy. We believe that the cooperation in 5G field this time will help MTN leverage its performance as the best carrier, and enable it to build a world-class network."
ZTE has been taking 5G development as its core strategy and striving to lead 5G innovations. ZTE has entered into 5G partnerships with many well-known high-end operators worldwide, including Telefonica, T-Mobile, Italy's Wind Tre, Belgium's Telenet, VEON, Telecom Malaysia, South Korea's KT, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom.
