Zain, a major mobile operator in eight markets across the Middle East and North Africa, has claimed a first in the MENA region with a new 5G roaming service.
Zain says that its operations in Kuwait and neighbouring Saudi Arabia have successfully launched the first 5G roaming service across the MENA region, with download speeds reaching as high as 500 Mbps for both outbound and inbound roaming.
Zain says that this agreement means it now joins a select few operators globally to have tested and introduced international 5G roaming. It adds that it is also the only operator to have established 5G roaming between two countries in the MENA region.
This announcement follows a flurry of 5G news from Zain in 2019. The Zain operation in Kuwait announced the commercial launch of a 5G service in May, and Zain Saudi Arabia followed in October with the launch of what the operator says is the largest 5G network deployment in the region, and the third largest in the world.
Zain also offers services in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Sudan and South Sudan. It will be interesting to see how soon, and where, the roaming agreement between Zain Kuwait and Zain Saudi Arabia is followed by further 5G roaming agreements within the Zain Group.
