Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) has been selected by Batelco to commercially deploy 5G to enhance the digital lives of people, enterprises and industries across Bahrain. The nationwide 5G deployment will happen in phases in key locations.

The deal, the latest in a long and successful partnership between the companies, will see Ericsson commercial 5G equipment – including 5G New Radio (NR), mobile transport, and core – being deployed in Batelco’s network.

Ericsson’s high-speed and low-latency 5G technology will help Batelco meet growing data traffic demands and deliver high-quality enhanced mobile broadband and fixed wireless access experiences.

The shift to 5G will bring enhanced mobile broadband to data-hungry subscribers across Bahrain with huge speed and low-latency changes in on-the-go user experiences such as streaming, downloading, gaming, infotainment, and interactivity.

5G will also enable Batelco to help open-up opportunities in the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 on a global scale to enterprises and industries in Bahrain.

Batelco’s stated mission is to drive network leadership in Bahrain and provide customers with next-generation mobile technologies. It recently achieved Bahrain’s first 3GPP-compliant 5G data call on a commercial mobile network using a 5G pocket router. The call used Ericsson Radio System solutions and 5G Cloud Packet Core.

Batelco Bahrain CEO Mohamed Bubashait says “Batelco is committed to delivering exceptional customer experience through provisioning of seamless, advanced mobile services over 5G. We are therefore very pleased to strengthen our strategic partnership with Ericsson to commercially deploy 5G to enhance our mobile network and services for people across Bahrain.”

Rafiah Ibrahim, Head of Market Area Middle East & Africa at Ericsson says: “Today, we are partnering with Batelco for a 5G commercial deployment in Bahrain. 5G promises to accelerate the digitization of industries, offering service providers with new opportunities and enabling them to launch the most advanced technologies while improving the end-user experience with higher data speeds and lower latency.”

Ericsson recently enhanced its 5G Platform with portfolio additions across core, radio access and transport areas, as well as service orchestration. The add-ons make the platform more dynamic and flexible, enabling service providers to smoothly evolve their networks and deploy 5G at scale.