Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: stc Group, the leading operator in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, partnered with Huawei to complete the MENA region's first-ever long-haul 800G/channel trial in its live optical network. This successful live network trial with connection over 1,000 kilometers, from Riyadh to Makkah, of state-of-the-art processing and transporting capacity proves the 800G solution is ready for scale deployment across Saudi Arabia, driving the Kingdom and the MENA region's digital transformation.

As a result of this successful trial, stc Group networks can now transport more data throughput for every wavelength deployed and extend across longer distances without generation, reducing power and transport costs, and supporting efficiency standards across stc Group's infrastructure.

The high-performance 800G/channel optical module, empowered by a built-in high baud bandwidth modulator and super 16QAM modulation with a Channel-Matched Shaping (CMS) 2.0 algorithm, established connection over 1,000 kilometers in a live Colorless-Directionless-Contentionless (CDC) network, proving the stc systems can monitor and sustain complex link environments in real-time, optimizing network transmission performance.

stc has been committed to offering excellent experience to all customers with state-of-the-art technologies and solutions. The 800G channel trial project is the result of stc’s focus on maximizing fiber capacity and optical network efficiency, making it possible to deliver up to 64Tbps single fiber capacity to meet ever-increasing bandwidth demand from all users, and reduce the per bit power consumption by more than 50% compared with 100G channel. The trial shows that stc is strengthening its partnership with Huawei in the ultra-high-speed optical transmission field.

On the importance of the trial's milestone, Huawei's President of Optical Transmission Domain, Victor Zhou, commented: "This long-haul 800G live trial in the stc network is a significant milestone in the ultra-high-speed optical industry. Huawei will continue to innovate and cooperate with stc in optical networks, providing leading and sustainable optical solutions for optimal user experiences."