ZTE Corporation, one of the major international providers of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the mobile internet, has announced that it has signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement with Advanced Info Service Plc. (AIS), one of Thailand’s major digital service provider.

According to the agreement, ZTE will be AIS’ complete strategic partner in upgrading critical technologies such as 5G to improve network quality and provide exceptional user experiences to AIS consumers, as well as developing innovations to position Thailand at the forefront of the digital economy.

ZTE will be poised to expand AIS’ 5G capabilities for different industries, bolstered by ZTE’s specialized innovation expertise that has already been globally successful, with a strong commitment to upgrading the AIS 5G network to be an autonomous network capable of precise autonomous network management during the processing of big data and AI. This will enable Thai industries to grow massively through the deployment of digital transformation.

Also, AIS and ZTE will launch Thailand’s first ‘A-Z Center’ (5G Innovation Center) as a hub for research collaborations and joint 5G innovations, for both infrastructure and solutions, to boost growth in sectors such as the 5G applications in industry verticals. The Center is due to be completed by Q3 this year.

AIS is currently the only provider to persist in expanding its 5G network to cover all 77 provinces of Thailand, reaching 78 percent of the population. Aimed to grow the number to 85 percent within this year, AIS has continued to work with world-class partners like ZTE to jointly develop innovations.

AIS, Qualcomm, and ZTE announced the world’s first 5G NR-DC (New Radio Dual Connectivity) presentation in the field in March 2022, attaining 8.5Gbps peak downlink speed and 2.17Gbps peak uplink speed with a single mobile device. This collaboration combines two main 5G frequency bands, Sub-6 and 5G mmWave, as part of the cooperative endeavour to enhance the capabilities of Thailand’s 5G network and expand the 5G application space.

AIS, ZTE, and Suranaree University of Technology will also partner in May 2021 to test the 5G Smart Factory. This helps employees improve their knowledge about AI, Cloud, IoT, VR, and AR. The expertise can then be used to provide solutions for the manufacturing industry, notably in Thailand’s northeast.