Zain Group, the leading mobile telecom operator in eight markets across the Middle East and Africa, announced the launch of its pioneering Zain Drone service in Kuwait, with the plan to expand its operation to other markets across the Zain footprint in due course. The launch was announced at a showcasing ceremony held in the Zain booth on the second day of GITEX Exhibition and Technology week held in Dubai, attended by Zain Group and Zain Kuwait executive management, many distinguished Kuwaiti ministry officials and economic identities as well as Kuwait and regional media.

Zain Drone as-a-Service (DaaS) is set to unlock opportunities in various industries to fast-track growth and exploit the Internet of Things (IoT) in an efficient, safer and faster way. It will offer state-of-the art bespoke drone solutions and provide advanced analytics for governments and businesses.

Zain Drone will offer multiple solutions across core industries such as Oil and Gas (Flare Inspections), Utilities (Power Line Inspections), Construction (BIM), Infrastructure (Asset Inspections), Security, Real Estate, Telecom Infrastructure, Agriculture and other similar type industries. The service will facilitate the gathering of image data concerning work advancement through measurement of key parameters, assessing image data to evaluated compliance with original designs, and performing automated stock-taking along with reducing accidents and human errors.

Zain has created a corporate entity to focus on the delivery of the drone-powered solutions, building upon its pioneering position in digital innovation across all markets in which it operates. Zain Drone is investing heavily to build the required capabilities in drone operations and is positioning itself to become the leading strategic partner in the fast-developing markets for unmanned data acquisition.

Zain Group Vice-Chairman and CEO, Bader Al-Kharafi commented, “The disruptive power of drone solutions will bolster efficiency for many businesses and government entities across the MENA region. This technology is maturing and growing exponentially across Europe and US, and we are confident that the MENA region will embrace drone powered solutions.”

Al-Kharafi added, “As a leading innovator we shall continue to invest heavily in Zain Drone services, positioning ourselves favorably to maximize the many valuable opportunities in the area, while at the same time fulfilling our digital transformation strategy of offering unique and business enhancing services.”

Zain enjoys solid in-house expertise in drone technology, drawing from international experts, and enjoys unparalleled knowledge of the enterprise market in Kuwait and across the region. Given Zain’s long history in the region, the company also possesses solid relationships with government entities, having deep experience in collecting, transferring, storing and processing huge quantities of data in a reliable and trusted manner.

Furthermore, Zain has the distinct advantage of offering reliable connectivity with an extensive network of towers across its regional footprint (22,000+), and enjoys vast experience in cloud infrastructure, system integration and data analytics.

With its range of complementary services and integrated reporting leveraging data from drone, Zain Drone will be able to offer additional services including unified communications, fleet management, control rooms, and managed services.

Additional use cases for Zain Drone -as-a—Service also exist in drone border security, offering aerial control over state borders by providing high-resolution image data from high-altitude fixed-wing drones. Sensors providing visual and thermal video footage for traffic and event identification can also be implemented. Zain Drone has application in mass control environments and emergency situations, as well as in media services with respect to live and high-resolution streaming.

Zain Drone will also offer Artificial Intelligence-enabled autonomous drone systems that will improve business decisions with its access to high accuracy data, while reducing manpower costs by requiring minimal human interaction. AI drones are capable of self-diagnostics, self-charging, and autonomous navigation utilizing a set of sophisticated sensors and high accuracy data.

Another application powered by Zain Drone will be a suite of Anti-Drone solutions to assist governments and security forces to identify and passively monitor unauthorized drones that threaten safety, security and privacy. This is achieved by using a combination of proprietary multi-sensor detection technologies, an enterprise-grade network, real-time alerts and the collection of digital evidence.

The power of Drones in quick deployment and capturing precision data at various altitudes is extremely beneficial for business planning and decision making. Drones are simply faster, more reliable and cost efficient. For more, please visit www.drone.zain.com