A Wonderful World - Zain

PioneeringNetworksWhat is Infrastructure Sharing?Infrastructure sharing can take a number offorms including site, network and spectrumsharing, national roaming and towercompanies. This is sometimes adopted byregulators to encourage competition andboost the performance of operators.Benefits include:• reducing operators’ investment requirements by sharing network development costs• offering new sources of revenue for incumbent operators• shifting operators’ focus towards service innovation, instead of network deployment• increasing access by expanding to less dense areas and meeting Universal Service Obligations and targets• reducing negative environmental impacts as a result of less network build-up• optimizing the use of scarce resources, particularly the right of wayOur Physical Network 2008 2009 2010Total number of sites 1,590 2,480 3,367Number of 2G sites 1,590 2,480 3,367Number of 3G sites 1,067 1,579 2,000Number of LTE sites New sites New sites 300 trialsCoverage 2008 2009 2010CITC 2G population coverage obligation 63.89% 70.95% 80.30%2G population coverage (%) 70.15% 83.10% 88.26%CITC 3G population coverage obligation (%) 50.95% 61.07% 65.00%3G population coverage (%) 59.3% 69.04% 71.45%Reliability 2008 2009 2010Radio availability (%) 98.4% 98.88% 99.21%Drop call rate (%) 0.76% 0.63% 0.58%Site Sharing In Numbers 2008 2009 2010Total number of shared sites 144 396 483Shared sites – Zain on other operators 144 396 479Shared sites – other operators on Zain 0 0 4Noise and Visual Pollution 2008 2009 2010Number of sites with reduced noise generators 500 900 1,300Number of ‘palm tree’ sites New sites 5 15Physical NetworkDuring the first three years of operation, Zain Saudi Arabia’s focus has been the rapiddeployment of a wide reaching and high quality network, covering the Arab region’s largestcountry. This challenge was compounded by an obligation to the regulator (CITC) onpopulation coverage, a condition for receiving the Kingdom’s third mobile operator license.This challenge was overcome in two ways: through the development of a comprehensive andmodern physical 2G, 3G and HSPA network that is easily scalable and upgradable, allowing forsignificant growth in the number of subscribers and ongoing evolution in mobile technology;and by pioneering the concept of site and infrastructure sharing in the Kingdom.In 2010, Zain Saudi Arabia launched the world’s largest trial of Long Term Evolution (LTE)technology capable of revolutionizing mobile broadband to deliver speeds of up to 150 Mbpsto handsets. With 300 LTE sites, commercial testing is due to begin as soon as the companyreceives approval from the regulator and the technology becomes widely available for use onhandsets and other mobile devices.In 2011, Zain Saudi Arabia commits to enhance our mobile broadband services with the introductionof 3G voice and HSPA of up to 42 Mbps covering 11 cities. The company will also start workingon a fiber optic network that will provide even faster and more reliable services in the future.Coverage and ReliabilityIn 2008 the company recognized that wide reaching coverage and a high quality network wereintegral to the successful launch of its services. Significant investments and innovative infrastructuresharing partnerships were made to rapidly cover a large proportion of the population with highquality mobile voice and broadband services.CoverageThe virtual network covered more than 400 cities and 50 highways in 2010, exceeding allpopulation coverage obligations set by the CITC on both 2G and 3G services. This has been aconsistent achievement since launch, demonstrating the speed and commitment the companyhas to develop its network.Universal Coverage – Reaching Remote AreasIn 2010, Zain Saudi Arabia was awarded a contract from the CITC’s Universal Service Fund forthe provision of voice and internet services to remote areas in the Kingdom. This will involvethe roll out of over 500 new sites to bring coverage to remote areas not currently served byany of the Kingdom’s three operators.ReliabilityTo ensure the provision of a high quality service to all customers, the network features severallevels of protection to ensure continuous and consistently high quality network service througha wide variety of conditions.Continuing investment in modern technology ensures an ever improving radio availability rateand decreasing drop call rate, ensuring Zain Saudi Arabia comfortably outperforms the CITCstandards of