Nokia is supplying 25Gbit/s fibre technology to Vodafone Qatar to power the Msheireb smart city project in Doha.

The aim is to extend the collaboration to demonstrate speeds of up to 100Gbit/s using a Nokia Bell Labs prototype in the near future.

With the roll-out of Vodafone’s fibre technology, Msheireb downtown’s smart city district is the first gigacity in the Middle East to deliver network speeds to its users on a 25Gbit/s fibre network. Vodafone Qatar GigaHome fibre customers in Msheireb downtown, will receive an upgrade to 1Gbyte on their existing plans.

This announcement is in line with Vodafone Qatar’s recent World’s Fastest Mobile Network award, according to results from consumer-initiated tests taken with Speedtest by Ookla, and reflects Vodafone’s investment with the goal of delivering better experiences to its customers.

The Msheireb smart city district stands as a reference for future urban projects, especially in its adherence to standards of green building and smart services, with the aim to enrich people’s lives and improve the overall quality of how they live, work and thrive.

“We are proud to provide cutting-edge fibre technology delivering super-fast speeds and seamless experience for users, and continue to support Msheireb smart city by providing connectivity services to the area, via our world-class Giganet network and high-speed 5G coverage,” said Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdullah Al Thani, CEO at Vodafone Qatar. “This demonstrates our commitment to accelerating Qatar’s journey towards becoming one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world.”

Engineer Ali Mohamed Al-Kuwari, CEO of Msheireb Properties, added: “We are proud that our smart city Msheireb in downtown Doha will be at the forefront of technological innovations in Qatar and the Middle East, and adopt Vodafone’s latest data technology, which offers unprecedented internet speed of up to 25Gbit/s to the users, hence enhancing customer experience within Msheireb. We appreciate Vodafone’s effort to offer seamless connectivity for individuals and corporates, which is in line with our vision and mission to create a more connected future.”

And Toni Pellegrino, head of the customer business team for Vodafone at Nokia, said: “We at Nokia are proud to deploy the country’s first 25G PON network for Vodafone Qatar to support the Msheireb smart city services with our innovative technology. We are looking forward to support our long-term partner Vodafone Qatar to demonstrate the power of next generation fibre networks to enable pioneering services for residential consumers and enterprises.”