Ericsson expands Saudi Arabia’s GSM Network

LONDON—Ericsson announced that it has won a contract valued at US$826 million to expand Saudi Arabia’s GSM network.
Under the terms of the deal, Ericsson will provide the total core network throughout Saudi Arabia, as well as a major portion of the Saudi Telecommunications Company’s (STC) radio network, covering the central and eastern provinces and the Jeddah area.
The expansion project is part of an initiative by STC to make it the largest and the most advanced GSM network in the Middle East. The project is due for completion by year-end 2002.
STC’s network currently serves 85 percent of its full capacity of 2.6 million subscribers. This figure is growing at a rate of 120,000 subscribers per month.