Tata Communications, Zain KSA partner on smart city solutions in Saudi

India-based Tata Communications has joined forces with Zain KSA, a mobile telecommunications and digital services provider, to help in the digital transformation of enterprises and government organizations in Saudi Arabia.

The combined ecosystems of the partners will provide solutions and platforms for remodeling cities with smart street lighting, connected workplace, smart waste management, connected cars, and healthcare.

According to Tata Communications, the flagship project of the partnership will see the implementation of a smart street lighting solution for one of the major cities in Saudi Arabia.

Vaneet Mehta — Tata Communications Region Head for Middle East, Central Asia and Africa said: “The strength of the reach of Zain KSA and cutting-edge infrastructure combined with our ecosystem of advanced technologies will strengthen the country’s shift to becoming a sustainable economy.

“This is a demonstration of our both organisations commitment to enable reimagining of cities in the Middle East by operating on smarter and cost-efficient models. This is a milestone project for Tata Communications for transforming the city into an intelligent and energy efficient metropolis, reducing its carbon footprint and charting the path for other cities to replicate.”

Tata Communications said that its Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem will serve as one-stop-shop to offer the platform, hardware, application and insights.

On its part, Zain KSA will grow the footprint with its business-to-business (B2B) offerings with joint projects pertaining to software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) and global contact centres in addition to application of smart transport and IoT solutions to facilitate smart metering, smart waste handling, and other smart city use cases among others.

Saad A. Al-Sadhan — Chief Business and Wholesale Officer of Zain KSA said: “Building on our pioneering and internationally renowned 5G network and in line with our vertical expansion strategy to drive 5G applications such as IoT we will work together to contribute to our comprehensive digital solutions offering and transformation services under one roof to enterprises and governments across the kingdom.

“The confluence of reliable connectivity, agility and trust will converge to better serve communities, businesses and governments. Together we will strengthen the digital core of the country to reinforce Saudi Vision 2030 and provide businesses the tools to embrace innovation and disruption to succeed in a rapidly evolving environment.”