February 15, 2010 - The Networks business of Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today signed a contract with Zain Saudi Arabia to deploy the first Long Term Evolution (LTE) network in the Kingdom.  Motorola will be deploying the largest LTE network for Zain in the capital city, Riyadh and will provide an end-to-end LTE solution including radio access network (RAN), evolved packet core (EPC), devices and optimization and integration services.  Deployment will begin in the second quarter enabling Zain to offer high-speed mobile broadband services to its customers.

“Motorola is pioneering the development and deployment of 4G, and we are delighted to be working closely with Motorola on this strategic LTE roll out as we address the mobile broadband needs of today's consumers in Saudi Arabia who are looking for rich, personalized media experiences,” said Ismail Fikree, chief operating officer, Zain Saudi Arabia.

“We want to provide Zain subscribers in the Kingdom with the fastest high-quality network that can accommodate real-time multimedia applications such as video conferencing, high definition (HD) content streaming, video blogging, or the ability to quickly upload video onto social networking sites. With LTE, Zain customers will be able to experience unparalleled mobile broadband experiences,” continued Fikree.

Motorola and Zain will deploy a FDD LTE network in the 2.6GHz band, overlaying Zain’s existing 3G network. 

“Motorola and Zain share the same commitment to bringing innovative communications services to benefit the Saudi people.  During our 15 year relationship, Motorola and Zain have brought voice and data services to consumers across the Middle East and Africa and we look forward, to delivering new 4G based personalized consumer experiences,” said Ali Amer, vice president and general manager, Motorola Networks EMEA.

“As Zain rolls out next generation LTE in Saudi Arabia, it requires an experienced partner and, with our years of OFDM experience and close relationship with the Zain Group, Motorola stands ready to be that partner,” Amer continued.

With the best performance and lowest cost/bit of any standards-based, cellular technology, LTE is expected to deliver throughput in excess of 100Mbps and 15ms roundtrip latency, to provide subscribers with a unique mobile broadband experience comparable or exceeding what they have at home today with fixed broadband connections. In addition, because of LTE’s lower cost per bit, it makes bandwidth hungry applications more cost effective for operators to deliver profitable mobile broadband to the mass market.

Zain and Motorola have existing agreements for example in Nigeria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan for several different technologies and service functions.

Motorola’s LTE Solution

Motorola is one of the few vendors in the industry that has expertise in, has committed to, and is investing in FDD-LTE and TD-LTE as well as WiMAX. Together these technologies offer a complementary set of options to deliver the 4G solutions that today’s operators will need to meet the needs of data hungry users and make a profit in the process.

Motorola is leveraging its OFDM expertise and years of success in WiMAX in the development of its LTE solution. Motorola’s first commercial LTE deployments will be based on its third-generation WiMAX products that have been proven and field-hardened and for which algorithms have been optimized to deliver the best performance in a real-world environment.

Motorola’s LTE solution is comprised of its OFDM broadband platform and a selection of radio options that include multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and smart antennas. It also features Motorola’s award winning advanced self-organizing network (SON) solution. Motorola's WBR 700 Series LTE eNodeB offers flexible deployment options with frame based-mounted radios, remote radio heads and tower top radios to support a wide variety of LTE deployment scenarios across numerous spectrum bands to meet the needs of the global market.

Also included in Motorola’s LTE portfolio are its evolved packet core (EPC) solution - the Wireless Broadband Core (WBC) 700 portfolio, backhaul, network management solutions, video solutions that monetize LTE investment, and a complete portfolio of professional services. The Motorola WBC 700 is comprised of Motorola’s award winning mobility management entity (MME), packet and serving gateways (P-GW and S-GW), and a policy and charging rules function server (PCRF).

Motorola’s LTE milestones

•     China Mobile Communications Corporation (CMCC) has selected Motorola as the primary TD-LTE solution partner to provide indoor coverage for all major pavilions at the World Expo 2010 Shanghai China. At the Expo, Motorola will also integrate and launch the world’s first TD-LTE USB dongle that supports both 2.3GHz and 2.6GHz, helping operators to build a healthy TD-LTE ecosystem.

•     KDDI has selected Motorola as a key vendor to help develop and implement its nationwide LTE network.

•     Motorola is engaged in LTE trial activity with other operators in North America, Europe and Asia, and operates an LTE trial network and testing lab in Swindon, UK

•     Conducted the world’s first TD-LTE live drive demo at ITU Telecom 2009 in Geneva and first LTE live drive demo in 700MHz at CTIA 2009 in Las Vegas

•      Received awards including:

-          2009 4GWE LTE Visionary Award for WBC 700 (EPC) and advanced SON solutions

-          2009 CTIA Wireless E-Tech Competition - recognition for SON in the Service Management category

-          2009 InfoVision Awards -  WBC 700 (EPC) named a finalist in the 2009 InfoVision Awards

-          2009 Next Generation Networks Leadership Award - WBR 500 eNodeB

Motorola's Networks business delivers fully integrated and customizable media solutions enabling operators to provide personalized, rich media experiences to their subscribers. As a global wireless infrastructure leader, Motorola is committed to 4G with WiMAX and LTE solutions that provide a way for operators to profitably meet the ever-growing demand for mobile broadband today while giving 2G and 3G customers a future path as we continue to support their legacy networks. Motorola brings its services, fourth generation orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) platform and 25 years of wireless data systems innovation, experience and expertise to bear as operators - wireline, wireless, cable and telco - seek to evolve their networks for the future.

For more information about Motorola’s 4G solutions, please visit our 4G Digital Press Kit. For more information about Motorola’s LTE solutions, please visit www.motorola.com/lte