Countries across the Middle East and North Africa region are investing to modernize their infrastructure through smart technologies. The region is embracing the shift to 5G and enabling technologies like cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and augmented and virtual reality.
China Mobile International Limited (CMI), the international arm of China Mobile, brings advanced connectivity solutions, global network resources, execution excellence and an extensive partner ecosystem to support the region’s ongoing digital transformation.
It sees particular potential to apply its market-leading iSolutions enterprise service portfolio in the development of smart ports, airports and other infrastructure as well as the region’s all-important energy sector.
With iSolutions, CMI has already helped more than 7,000 enterprise customers digitally transform with one-stop customized solutions, serving a wide range of verticals across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas.
State-of-the-Art Solutions Help Ports Transform
More than 80% of the total volume of global trade is transported by sea. According to the World Bank’s Container Port Performance Index 2022, the Middle East ports are already among the most productive in the world, with three ports from the region in the global top ten, alongside China, which also has three ports on the list.
Smart solutions from CMI can further strengthen port efficiency to enhance the resilience of the Middle East maritime trade through advanced terminal management. Leveraging China Mobile extensive experience in smart port projects in key Chinese cities, including Ningbo, Xiamen, Tianjin and Shanghai, CMI’s solutions have been proven in international port project and around the world.
A new port project in Europe is leveraging CMI iSolutions to build a green, low-carbon smart port with digitalized operations and support for intelligent decision making. The smart solution is based on a 5G private network and a cloud management platform, incorporating digital twins and an AI-enabled port yard situational awareness system for enhanced management of resources in real time via the port’s Smart Operations Center, located offsite. New applications for the port include remote-controlled equipment, multi-user intercom and drone inspection and surveillance.
Smart Park Systems Improve the Airport Passenger Experience
Air passenger numbers have been trending up in the Middle East region in recent years, and are expected to double to 550 million a year by 2040, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). This makes the region one of the fastest-growing aviation markets worldwide, putting immense pressure on airlines and airports to invest in growth.
A recent major project in the region involved one of the largest international airports in East Africa. Transporting tens of millions of passengers every year, it opted to include advanced technologies and systems as part of a smart airport upgrade. The airport deployed CMI’s integrated smart park solution for improved planning, enhanced communications and the automation of key systems.
Taking advantage of the mobile internet and an intelligent IoT platform, the airport’s smart park solution monitors and controls equipment ranging from security cameras and fire protection systems to access control solutions, lighting, audio/visual systems and solar energy storage devices. This helps the airport improve safety and security, save energy and provide a better passenger experience without adding staff headcount, even as the number of people using the terminal increases substantially.
Cloud Solutions Enhance Efficiency across Diverse Industries
Enterprises from a range of other industries are also exploring cloud solutions with CMI iSolutions to enhance efficiency, promote collaboration and unlock new business opportunities.
For example, a world-leading magazine publisher with a complex cloud-based global infrastructure needed multi-cloud interconnection and the ability to handle large and fluctuating network traffic to support a global workforce and readership. Using its own converged network backbone, CMI combined cloud connectivity, software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) technologies and a private ethernet to create a low-latency and highly controllable boutique network for the customer – giving it a more reliable network with automatic switching and fully redundant equipment at critical nodes.
Elsewhere, an international courier company turned to CMI to develop and implement a fleet management solution covering about 3,000 city delivery vehicles. Its aim was to enhance the efficiency of the fleet and control costs while improving services and driver safety. CMI built a fleet management platform and app and provided in-vehicle IoT cards to collect data about vehicle operations, such as location and vehicle faults. It also set up secure, reliable and stable network connections between the vehicles and application platform to support data interconnection and interoperability.
The courier company can now efficiently track vehicles and parcel status, monitor fuel consumption and costs, and support drivers to encourage safer driving. This solution is also applicable to a variety of other industries, including construction, oil, gas and mining, and emergency services.
Advancing the Global Ecosystem
To help enterprises in the Middle East and around the world seek new opportunities, CMI is building a global ecosystem of next-generation technology partners. CMI launched the iSolutions Partner Ecosystem Alliance in March 2023, creating a network of leaders from AI, blockchain, cloud, digital, network, edge, terminal and security (ABCDNETS).
The new alliance will encourage the existing 200 iSolutions partners and new partner companies to integrate their solutions and collaborate to develop new innovations. This aim is to create a true “one-stop service” platform for enterprises engaged in digital transformation.
CMI continues to extend its global network to support its partners and enterprise customers. It currently has 38 footprints worldwide, including offices in four countries in the Middle East and Africa. It has total international transmission bandwidth of more than 138 Tbps, with more than 80 marine cable resources, more than 230 overseas points of presence (PoPs), and five major self-owned data centres.
