Zain Kuwait has showcased its network’s capabilities for the rollout of 5G New Calling (5GNC), having successfully trialled the new technology, it announced in a press release which highlighted the cellco’s recent participation in the GSMA’s New Calling Summit 2023 event in Paris. The news closely follows rival STC Kuwait’s announcement of a 5GNC pilot, as reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate.

Zain indicates that it has scheduled a commercial 5GNC rollout ‘in the near future.’ The company has also collaborated with major industry players to publish a whitepaper that provides an overview of 5GNC and its use cases, the standardisation progress to support it, proof of concepts and pre-commercial trials, among other elements. 5GNC leverages the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) to enhance calls with new capabilities for voice and video services, directly over the network without using data traffic, promising ‘ultra-HD, intelligent, and interactive calling features on the native call screen without the need for any additional or external apps.’ Users can enjoy ‘rich intelligence features not available in traditional calls, such as voice and video recognition, instant live translation in real-time during the call, inclusion of fun avatars and filters to video calls, and more.’ Particular benefits are highlighted for companies offering customer service hotlines: 5GNC can allow customers to easily interact with menus to solve their inquiries faster and more efficiently. 5GNC also opens up new opportunities for enterprises to interact with their customers by allowing them to complete business transactions through calls.

TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database notes that Zain Kuwait launched Voice-over-5G (Vo5G) in May 2022, claiming a global first in terms of a commercial Vo5G service with nationwide coverage, hosted on its 5G Standalone (SA) network.