Zain Group said it has joined the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), an initiative co-founded by Facebook, Intel, Nokia, SK Telecom, Deutsche Telekom and others in 2016. The primary aim of TIP is to bring mobile operators, infrastructure providers, system integrators, and other technology companies together to collaborate on the development of new technologies and reimagine traditional approaches to building and deploying telecom network infrastructure. Operators and the broader telecom industry need to collaborate, be more flexible, innovative and efficient, and TIP looks to help achieve this goal.
Zain will bring expertise and resources to the initiative as it will leverage its regional footprint and experience in network deployments across challenging territories to support TIP. TIP is exploring new approaches and technologies across these initial focus areas: access, backhaul, and core and management. The projects within these areas utilize the unique engineering and operational expertise of each member, focusing on developing new technologies and exploring new approaches to deployment in both developed and emerging markets. Each member contributes to the area of its expertise, while learning from others so that together all parties can collaborate and build better, faster, more efficient systems.
Since the launch of TIP in February 2016, the initiative has achieved numerous milestones including the creation of ‘TIP Ecosystem Acceleration Centers’ that incubate local talent around the world and accelerate product development through support from leading global and local investors. A ‘People and Process Project Group’ was also created in order to develop and share cultural and process transformation best practices that can improve operators’ key metrics.
In addition, Facebook contributed Voyager, the industry’s first white-box transponder and IP/MPLS routing solution that was successfully tested. Furthermore, Facebook’s OpenCellular designs and schematics are now fully open source within TIP to accelerate the industry’s ability to provide wireless access in remote areas of the world.
