This partnership positions WE as the first operator in North Africa to adopt comprehensive solutions for internal and external communications.
“This cooperation will enable us to maintain our leadership position in delivering innovative technological solutions and high-quality 5G services to our customers,” stated WE CEO Mohamed Nasr Eldin.
Huawei will integrate its BladeAAU technology, which utilizes high-bandwidth Massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) capabilities, alongside the DIS 5G technology supported by Pico Remote Radio Units (pRRU), into WE’s network infrastructure.
This will deliver better broadband internet experiences to users, ensuring high-speed connectivity and exceptional quality. It will also optimize space utilization for antenna installations on communication towers and prepare the groundwork for future developments in 5G technology.
“This collaboration underscores our commitment to providing leading global solutions that will empower Telecom Egypt to establish a robust foundation for 5G while simultaneously enhancing 4G capabilities,” said Huawei Egypt CEO Benjamin Hou. "This partnership will significantly expedite Egypt's network modernization and foster the growth of fixed users at Telecom Egypt.”
Furthermore, WE will implement the region's first digital internal system for 5G digital internal system (DIS), which operates across three frequency bands and employs V-MIMO (Virtual Multiple Input Multiple Output) technology. Initial tests have demonstrated remarkable performance, with internet speeds exceeding 300 Mbps, setting a new benchmark for user experience in Egypt.
“Telecom Egypt is dedicated to providing users with the highest quality voice services and is continuously innovating to achieve this goal. Huawei’s investment-saving solutions further strengthen the trust between our two companies,” remarked WE CTO Mohamed Alfowey.
The introduction of DIS has proven to outperform traditional distributed antenna systems (DAS) in terms of capacity and user experience. These systems offer greater flexibility for planning and implementation across diverse and complex architectural environments.
This partnership will enhance ICT infrastructure in Egypt, thereby accelerating digital transformation initiatives through cutting-edge technologies.
Additional technological enhancements enabled by this partnership
WE is the first operator in Egypt to deploy Huawei's Lightweight Distributed Session Border Controller (SBC) and Ultra Capacity IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), which will enhance the core network infrastructure in the country.
WE and Huawei will also establish the largest fixed-network IMS in Africa, featuring a lightweight SBC that is energy-efficient and designed for future voice core network deployments in addition to a new cloud ENUM system to support anticipated growth in Voice over Broadband (VoBB) services in the coming years.
The fixed-network IMS in Africa can serve 12 million VoBB subscribers and private branch exchanges (PBX), and the ENUM function, which facilitates routing during IMS calls, has been integrated into the same virtualized platform, utilizing high-performance Huawei servers that minimize physical footprint and energy consumption.
To streamline maintenance and operations, the companies developed an automated orchestrator allowing unified management across various infrastructure tiers, including cloudOS and IMS virtual network functions (VNFs). This optimizes resource scheduling for balanced utilization.
The upgraded infrastructure supports a highly reliable core network capable of accommodating over 10 million fixed users simultaneously.
The deployment of high-density blade servers reduces operational expenditures and minimizes space and power requirements, ensuring IMS is "always online" and enhancing communication quality
To facilitate efficient deployment across diverse scenarios, Telecom Egypt and Huawei also introduced the lightweight SBC appliance, which is powered by a bare-metal architecture and designed for 4U height to support expansion through chassis cascading.
It serves as both A-SBC and I-SBC media, allowing deployment at edge sites to improve local access and user experience.
Huawei's latest solution replaces legacy SBCs without requiring telco-cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS), external storage, or additional switches. This focus on service simplifies IMS deployment, reduces infrastructure investment, and enables quicker SBC deployment at edge sites, thus enhancing the quality of IMS voice services for fixed network users in Egypt.
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