Service provider Bahrain Telecommunication Company (Batelco) has signed a deal with Nokia to sell the Finnish vendor’s various private LTE and 5G systems, plus edge componentry and industrial devices, to public agencies and private enterprises in the Kingdom of Bahrain, in West Asia. The deal covers both Nokia’s Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) and Modular Private Wireless (MPW) products, for smaller and larger industrial venues respectively.
A statement made reference, as well to “edge computing capabilities [and] value-adding applications”, which is a reference to hardware and software in Nokia Mission-Critical Industrial Edge (MXIE) compute system, which can be deployed in parallel with both its DAC and MPW products. It also referenced “ruggedized industrial devices” for Industry 4.0 clients, in line with Nokia’s primary focus in the private networks field.
The deal will see Nokia as the “sole supplier of private wireless infrastructure across Bahrain”, it said. Batelco will get to work deploying private 5G in the second half of 2024. Nokia said: “Key benefits to industries include operational KPI improvements, diversification and enhancement of revenue streams, and more robust health and safety measures.” It stated: “This partnership will pave the way for mission-critical sectors to utilise industrial grade private networks as an enabler for digital transformation and progress towards performance goals.”
Maitham Abdulla, chief executive officer at Batelco, said: “The result [of this deal] is the introduction of powerful private wireless networks to Bahrain’s mission-critical industries. The availability of high-performance connectivity solutions will initiate a new era of network usage, transforming worker safety outcomes, fostering innovation, and increasing revenue streams across diverse sectors.”
