Showing posts with label Country Saudi Arabia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Country Saudi Arabia. Show all posts

Wednesday, 8 September 2021

stc Saudi Arabia's Robotic Hajj 2021

The Hajj pilgrimage despite being greatly impacted and reduced in term of pilgrims due to the pandemic these last two years is being transformed by innovative technologies and advances in mobile networks especially with the rollout of 4G and 5G. 

For example stc Group have launched a series of smart robot technologies aimed at increasing the efficiency of the Hajj pilgrimage and developing a reference experience for the coming Hajj Seasons through shortening the effort and time and providing safety for the pilgrims. 

stc envisage two types of robots to be used in Mecca. The first robot is featured as a personal robot, while the other is a security robot. The personal robot works using 3D technology and is equipped with a screen, camera and microphone, as it can move among and talk to pilgrims, answer their inquiries and provide guidance and advice. It further enhances communication among individuals under the circumstances of remote work and social distancing imposed by Covid-19 pandemic.

The security robot is dedicated to follow up and monitor the compliance with the precautionary and preventive measures that the pilgrims must follow as per the applicable health protocols. It can measure the human temperature and monitor the mask wearing through its AI technologies. Further, it undertakes site sanitization on a continuous basis, where it can be controlled and operated remotely through the Monitoring and Control Platform.

Furthermore, stc enhanced “Augmented Reality” technology (AR) together with its efforts to expand and deploy (5G) technology across Holy Sites. Such AR technology is an interactive experience based on the latest technologies where the user can deal with the information and objects that reside in the virtual world and see the surrounding world through mobile devices such as smartphone or through wearable devices such glasses and contact. Such technology contributes to the enhancement of Hajj and Umrah experience and provides virtual guide for circumambulation (“Tawaf”), information about the directions to the main sites and first-hand information about the Holy Mosque.

Moreover stc Group has significantly raised its network operational plan, and its network availability rate with the latest technology in 5G and 4G in recent times. Regarding the Hajj pilgrimage 5G coverage in Mecca and the Holy Sites has increased by 48% comparing to last year. Data Traffic on stc network has increased 40% compared with the last year. With the number of international voice channels increased by 33% distributed over 8 international exchanges, the company. Concerning the internal coverage solutions, sites in the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque have been allocated and upgraded to 5G technology, in parallel with the company’s goal to create an innovative Hajj experience for pilgrims during this season.

The Digital Operations Control Center, which was recently launched at stc complex in Riyadh as the largest control and monitoring center in the region, has monitored the difference in the movement of services in parallel with the strategy of delivering more services through the latest networks. In fact, the voice traffic recorded more than 737% growth compared to last year, with more than 65% delivered through the 4G network to enhance customer experience in voice services, while the 4G and 5G networks have carried more than 96% of the internet traffic in Mina.

While data traffic increased on The Day of Arafat by 220% compared to last year, while the volume of voice traffic increased by 350%. Around 97% of this increase was transmitted through 5G and 4G networks. The data also showed a 330% increase in the number of stc customers on the Holy Mount Arafat.

This quantitative and qualitative increase in state-of-the-art voice traffic delivery and data traffic technologies comes in conjunction with the development of the 5G and 4G networks this year in order to increase the qualitative efficiency of customer experience across all stc services.

On the other hand, the critical communication network solutions provided by “specialized by stc” to government and private entities involved in the Hajj season recorded an availability rate of 99%, thus ensuring continuity of communication with field teams and immediate communication of critical and emergency situations. 

Another interesting innovation is the deployment of the 'smart card' this is linked with all services being provided to the pilgrims; such as their entry to hotels in Makkah and tents in the holy sites as well as their using of means of transportation.

Indeed King Salman of Saudi Arabia has affirmed that the digital Hajj system aims to reduce human cadres in managing crowds and organizing Hajj to ensure the safety of pilgrims and those serving them.

Deputy Minister Hajj Amr Al-Maddah said that the launch of the card establishes a digital phase ahead in which all transactions will be managed in a smart and contactless manner. He pointed out that it will also serve as an electronic financial wallet in the future; thus eliminating the need for pilgrims to carry cash.

The smart card can be used in payments through points of sale as well as to guide lost pilgrims on to their camps; governing access to camps and timing of grouping and transportation. It aims to facilitate the movement of pilgrims to and from Makkah and markedly reduce the waiting time for buses that transport them between Makkah and the Holy Sites. The card also enabled pilgrims to bring down the human contact to the minimum.

Also this year, instead of communal water dispensers, an army of robots was deployed to distribute sacred water to the faithful.

“Bottled zamzam water is much better. There are fewer people and there's no need to queue,” Pakistani-American Aneela, 37, told AFP.

Egyptian pilgrim Siam said the new technologies meant the Haj was “keeping up with the times”.

 

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Sunday, 16 May 2021

Saudi Arabia's New Spectrum Outlook to Unlock more than 23 GHz of radio spectrum

The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has issued its ‘3-year Outlook for Commercial and Innovative Use of the Spectrum in Saudi Arabia.’ The spectrum outlook is part of the National Spectrum Strategy, which aims to unlock the potential of radio spectrum in Saudi Arabia for a smarter and safer future by 2025. CITC is planning to allocate or improve access to more than 23 GHz of spectrum for a wide range of uses, of which 4 GHz will be licensed, 6.2 GHz will be license-exempt, and more than 13 GHz will be lightly licensed. CITC is also actively monitoring other potential frequency bands for further future releases.


The press release said:

CITC is planning to allocate licensed spectrum in the bands 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 1,500 MHz, extended 2,100 MHz, 3,800 – 4,000 MHz and 26 GHz frequency bands for mobile use between 2021 and 2023. As part of the regulatory changes, additional spectrum will be managed through a combination of innovative approaches that will deliver greater sharing and flexible access, including spectrum trading to allow the market to change the ownership and, in some cases, the use of spectrum. In addition, with this new spectrum outlook, CITC aims to achieve a balance between complementary technologies in cases where the market cannot deliver, monitor spectrum utilization for improved decision making, and assist innovation by making a variety of bands available for new technologies from trial licenses to shared and short-term access. The spectrum outlook details Saudi Arabia's path to becoming a global leader in radiocommunication and wireless technologies by attracting investments, meeting current data and connectivity demands and proactively anticipating future needs. Correspondingly, CITC aims to leverage innovation in spectrum management by expanding its range of resources and services, while ensuring the digital ecosystem is ready to unlock its full potential. Drafting this outlook followed a transparent and collaborative process that involved public consultation and engagement with more than 65 wireless technology organizations from different 20 countries.

Saudi Arabia became the first country in the Middle East, Europe, or Africa to designate all 1200 MHz of the 6 GHz band for unlicensed use. The Kingdom now has more than 2 GHz of spectrum for Wi-Fi operations – the most mid-band spectrum designated by any country globally. This decision was lauded by the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA).

The Kingdom made this decision after a comprehensive consultation, significant engagement with various global stakeholders, and trials with Wi-Fi 6E equipment furnished by WBA members Broadcom Inc. and Intel Corporation. The trials demonstrated that the Kingdom could advance its digital ambitions, achieving 2 Gigabits per second speed in laptop computers, while enabling continued operations with existing users of the 6 GHz band.

It would be difficult to overstate the importance of the Kingdom’s decision for digitizing its economy and enabling next-generation services. In WBA’s annual report, members of the Wi-Fi industry said that the 6 GHz band is a critical component of their network strategy, with 78% seeking to take advantage of this spectrum to deliver high speed wireless broadband. By making all 1200 MHz of the band available, the Saudi’s have created a wireless superhighway with seven non-overlapping 160 MHz channels of green field spectrum for Wi-Fi 6E devices to use. Saudis will enjoy high reliability Wi-Fi that doubles the speeds and halves the latency compared to the capacity-constrained 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.

The Kingdom will also be well positioned to lead in Wi-Fi 7 deployments when it becomes available. With this broad-based designation, Wi-Fi 7 deployments using 320 MHz wide channels will get up to 5 gigabits per second in mobile devices at very low latencies. This sets the stage for the Kingdom to further reap the benefits of contextual Internet, integrated communications services, and immersive AR/VR for telemedicine, education and worker training.

With Saudi Arabia joining the ranks of the US, South Korea, Brazil, and others, in designating all 1200 MHz of the 6 GHz band for license-exempt use, the WBA hopes that other regulators in the region will take note and make a similar commitment to advancing their own wireless broadband capabilities. This will lead to Global harmonization, which is key to scale, accelerating technology development, and reducing costs for end-users.

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Monday, 31 August 2020

Is Saudi Arabia Winning the 5G Race?

Opensignal has analysed the real-world 5G experience of their users across mobile operators in a number of countries globally. In an article they have compared 5G users’ overall experience across 12 of the world’s leading 5G markets. Surprisingly there is no Japan or China in the list but you still have other big players.


The article states:

Globally, our 5G users in Saudi Arabia see the fastest overall average download speed with a Download Speed Experience of 144.5 Mbps ahead of Canada’s 5G users in second place with 90.4 Mbps. Strikingly, 5G Users in the country with the highest adoption of 5G to date, South Korea, rank just third. Our 5G users in the U.K. have the slowest overall Download Speed Experience with a score of 32.6 Mbps because the 4G experience greatly brings down the overall score. Download Speed Experience – 5G Users takes into account the average 3G and 4G Download Speed that 5G users see, as well as their average 5G Download Speed and time connected to each type of network to reveal the overall download speed experience.


When we consider the average download speed using 5G technology we see a very different story. While Saudi Arabia remains in first place, South Korea jumps to second place with average 5G Download speeds of a staggering 312.7 Mbps — over five times faster than South Korea’s already fast 4G speeds. The U.K. moves up the rankings with the U.S., Netherlands and Germany now dropping into the last three positions.

 The modest 5G Download Speeds in the U.S. are due to a combination of the limited amount of new mid-band 5G spectrum that is available and the popularity of low-band spectrum – T-Mobile’s 600MHz and AT&T’s 850MHz – which offer excellent availability and reach but lower average speeds than the 3.5GHz mid-band spectrum used as the main 5G band in every country outside of the U.S. However, Verizon’s mmWave-based 5G service offers very considerably faster average 5G Download Speeds of 494.7 Mbps in our recent U.S. report, which is faster than the average 5G download speeds Opensignal has seen on any operator, or in any country to date including Saudi Arabia. 

 The amount of time users spend connected to 5G – 5G Availability – is an important factor in the overall experience 5G users enjoy. We are still in the early stages of a 5G era that will last for at least a decade because the first 5G services launched only in 2019, and in a number of countries we continue to see 5G services aimed at smartphone users launching for the first time.

STC, Saudi Arabia was one of the first operators to roll out 5G. Another OpenSignal report back in April about the Video experience in Saudi was a bit critical of the experience there. It said:

Our first look at our new Games Experience metric at the operator level in Saudi Arabia, reveals that all three operators have much work still to do before they can provide their mobile gamers with an experience free of connectivity issues. Both STC and Zain fall into Very Poor for this measure of the mobile experience, while the winner, Mobily, is just ahead with a score of 42.5, which places it in the Poor category.

While that report focused heavily on 4G, things may yet change with 5G.

The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has launched a public consultation setting out its five-year outlook on radio spectrum for commercial and innovative use. The consultation invites views on a range of measures, with the aim of enabling the transformation of Saudi Arabia into a leading digital society in alignment with the goals of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 and CITC's recently approved National Spectrum Strategy.

In this consultation, CITC is proposing to release more than 10 GHz of additional radio spectrum by 2024 across a wide range of frequency bands to cater to the needs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, accelerate innovation and create a thriving environment for emerging radio technologies. Through this consultation, CITC is inviting all interested parties, both locally and internationally, to provide their views and input on the future of this unprecedented spectrum release. Views are welcome from local and international telecom and technology providers, industrial stakeholders, public entities and members of the public as well as consumers of telecom and digital services.

The PDF is available here and this picture below from that summarises the details of current IMT spectrum assignments in Saudi Arabia.


As you can see, the 3 main operators have a good chunk of spectrum below 1 GHz as well as in the 3.6 GHz band. This definitely gives them an edge in 5G as compared to others.

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Wednesday, 8 April 2020

Zain Achieves Goal of 5G Leadership in Middle East & Africa Region


Zain is a leading mobile voice and data services operator with a commercial footprint in 8 Middle Eastern and African countries with a workforce of over 6,000 providing a comprehensive range of mobile voice and data services to over 49.5 million active individual and business customers as of Dec 31, 2019.

Some observations from its 2019 Annual Report:

Described as their flagship operation Kuwait maintained its market leadership, with its customer base growing 7% during the course of a highly productive year that saw Zain Kuwait invest USD 209 million representing 19% of its revenue in CAPEX during 2019. As the first operator to launch commercial 5G services in the country in June 2019, Zain Kuwait triumphantly rolled out numerous innovative digital services to enterprises and individual customers, attaining the largest market share of 5G customers in Kuwait.

In Saudi Arabia Zain serves 7.6 million customers and has recorded  its highest ever financial results since its establishment. The rollout of the largest commercial 5G network in the region combined with expansion of Fiber to the Home services and the launch of numerous data monetization initiatives were instrumental to its successful turnaround. The operator made significant CAPEX
investments of USD 512 million, representing 23% of its revenues during the year, aimed at
perpetuating the successful digital transformation process underway in the Kingdom.

In Iraq the operator’s focus on customer experience, services expansion across the country and
cost transformation, combined with growth of data and digital revenue and customer loyalty initiatives serve 15.7 million customers. Discussions are ongoing regarding the granting of 4G spectrum, and Zain are hopeful and ready to rollout 4G services to the Iraqi consumers, to help the country's socioeconomic development.

Despite the country’s many socio-economic issues during 2019 including currency devaluation, Zain Sudan continued to perform well. The operation serves the largest customer base in the Group with 15.9 million customers, growing 9% over the year, making it the largest within the Group. It was very pleasing to see Zain Sudan report net profit growth in USD terms during 2019, it is hoped that the currency stabilizes so further growth is reported in USD terms.

The operation in Jordan is maintaining its market leadership serving 3.6 million customers with stable revenues and improved net income that grew 5% during 2019. Zain Jordan invested USD 43 million in CAPEX during 2019 predominantly on its nuclear grade data center, named ‘The Bunker’ as well
as 4G and Fiber to the Home expansion. They are planning the rollout of 5G commercial services, once the spectrum is attained.

 

Zain Group announced that its Zain Drone subsidiary has become the first drone services provider in the region to receive the internationally recognized ISO 9001:2015 certification with respect to its quality management system (QMS).

ISO 9001 specifies requirements for a QMS standard reached by organizations to demonstrate the ability to consistently provide services that meet customer and regulatory requirements, and to create operational efficiencies by aligning and streamlining processes throughout the organization.

The certification is seen as the next step in Zain establishing itself as a leading drone-as-a-service provider in the Middle East region. This is a potentially important new business area for telecommunications providers as, among other opportunities, it could allow them to help organizations to benefit from the Internet of Things (IoT) and, by extension, to leverage 5G rollout for their drone services.

The multiple uses of drones include gathering and assessment of image data, automated stock-taking, and replacing physical inspections with digital inspections, thus reducing human error and, in the case of drone-based oil rig inspections for example, reducing the chance of human injury.



Zain has achieved its goal to be the first operator in the region to launch a commercial 5G network. The operator has a commitment to providing a state-of-the-art network offering advanced mobile services and better customer experience, during 2019 Zain rolled out thousands of 5G sites across Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Bahrain began rolling out 5G sites in December 2019. Zain is keen to benefit from the advantages driven by 5G, including massive machine-to-machine communication (mMTC) and ultra-reliable low latency communications. Zain Group launched 5G services in the 3.5 GHz band, which is part of the global 5G  frequency standard, leveraging advanced technology in Massive MIMO Active Antenna, backhauled capacity of 10Gbps Fiber Optics, and advanced E-band links, supported by virtual core functions to provide high throughput enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services  to customers.

During 2019, Zain acquired or renewed over 600 MHz of the frequency spectrum across markets in various bands at an acquisition commitment price of nearly USD 300 million. In Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the allocation of these spectrum bands has facilitated the launch of 5G services as is the case with Bahrain that will soon launch 5G. They were the first operator in the region to offer 5G roaming between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia back in November 2019.

Source: Hisham Allam - IEEE 5G-IoT Summit Kuwait

Also in 2019, Zain focused intensively on launching 5G Core (Non-Standalone), which is the first step towards a Next Generation Core. The company started to deploy new solutions that will cater to 5G services in the coming years. Multi-Access Edge Computing is an example of such deployments, where the traffic can now be moved to the edge of the network, closer to the consumer, rather than the earlier approach where it was kept centralized. This will significantly minimize latency, which will better serve future 5G services that require very low latency. Preparations are also ongoing for the Next Generation Core based on Standalone technology, which will also allow network slicing, which will be essential for enterprises.

The adoption of 5G continues to grow at an impressive rate of over 50% month-on-month, Zain operations are able to monitor and improve the quality of service to customers based on data usage patterns, habits and experience to ensure effective network rollout.




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Saturday, 21 December 2019

VIVA Officially Rebrands to its Parent STC


Saudi Telecom Company (STC) have  launched a new unified brand in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, representing a strategic shake-up to enhance its presence in the region.

The operator, which previously offered services under the name VIVA Bahrain and VIVA Kuwait, will replace VIVA in both instances with STC.

To mark the rebranding move, the operator announced new offers for its customers for free international roaming, mobile data and free minutes in the three countries.



STC announced the launch of this new branding, according to a statement to the Saudi Stock Exchange website (Tadawul). Launching the new branding for the company and its subsidiaries comes in line with the STC’s strategy for digital transformation and customer experience enrichment.

The company has also changed its Arabic trading name on the Tadawul platform from Al Eitsalat to STC.

STC Group had officially launched commercial 5G services in Saudi Arabia, becoming the Kingdom’s first telecom operator to provide this service across a number of cities in the country.

STC has developed the infrastructure of wireless networks in the Kingdom, extended their range, provided the latest global technologies and accelerated the deployment of 5G networks, which provide the foundation for a range of innovative future applications, including the provision of high-speed mobile internet all over the Kingdom.

VIVA (now STC) and Huawei have also cooperated to advance solutions over 5G to develop IoT solutions and 5G ecosystem in Kuwait.

This agreement is a road methodology promoting synergies and best practices in line with the digital transformation to deliver outstanding services to Viva customers not limited to consumers, home and enterprise, and driving the mission of STC leading the digital lifestyle enabler for its customers. They aim to  launch the nationwide 5G services, that will bring VR, AR, and other ultra-HD video services such as Mobile Video 3.0 to STC customers. They especially intend to accelerate Kuwait’s digital transformation to various industries from oil/gas industry to smart cities to public safety and achieve new business growth for all participating parties.

See also 'How STC is leading the digital revolution in MENA'.

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Monday, 19 August 2019

Statistics from Hajj 2019 (1440 H)


The Saudi Arabian Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has released the statistics for mobile data & voice calls from Hajj this year. While the majority of activity is centered around Makkah (Mecca), Medina (Madinah) becomes highly active too. To give an idea of why this is important, see this picture below


The city of Makkah is always full of people but during Hajj time, around 4-5 million people gather in a small area. This is the most challenging network deployment because people are always on their smartphones, talking, live streaming, video calling, etc. There is also no end time. This continues generally round the clock.


Here is the summary of stats from CITC announcement:

The use of Information and Communication Technology  services (ICT), during this season of Hajj 1440-2019, witnessed  a significant rise; the average number of subscribers reached nearly 7.4million per day, the number of voice calls exceeded 309 million hours, and the total data consumption during the entire season exceeded 30.2 thousand terabyte, with a rise  of 26% compared to last year, according the statistics issued by CITC about the ICT services consumed in Makkah Almukarramah, Al Madinah Almunawarah and Holy sites throughout Hajj season 1440-2019.

Implementation of daily measurements showed that the Internet average download speed is 44.83 Mbps in Makkah Almukarramah with a rise of 69% compared to last year. While in Madinah it reached 48.14 Mbps with a rise of 54% compared to last year, due to availability of advanced infrastructure for communication networks and massive increase of their capacity.

In an earlier announcement CITC had said:

The statistics also included average of daily data consumption per person; the average rate reached (299.12 MB / subscriber) compared to daily global data consumption rate per person (180  MB / subscriber), noting that the most popular applications are  (in order): YouTube, Snap Chat, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram.

The statistics additionally mentioned that average Internet download speed reached (45.61) in Makkah, achieving an improvement rate of (71.79%) compared to last year.  The number of domestic calls reached (22.7 millions)  while  international calls reached (7.6  millions  ) with success rate of 99.06%.

Note that the two pics above are from CITC tweet below.


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Wednesday, 8 August 2018

Saudi Arabia: Innovation and Loss


There are three main operators in Saudi Arabia: STC, Mobily and Zain. All three operators go through a strict approval process before being allowed to operate, and each one competes with the others to offer the best deals. Their services have all been tried and tested by both locals and travelers, so they can be trusted. According to OpenSignal’s connectivity report, Saudi Arabia’s coverage is extremely good around the main highways and developed areas, but it can suffer a great deal the more you head towards the deserts and remote regions. However, it isn’t just a local problem, it will happen on all phones and providers you use there. There are 2G, 3G and 4G plans available on all networks for unlocked GSM phones. Recently a 2.9 per cent drop in mobile users to 39 million has been projected, due to the implementation of economic reforms, which will push down the penetration rate to 123 per cent, compared with a 16 per cent year-on-year decline in 2017, where the penetration rate reached 127 per cent. 

STC as the largest player in the market holds somewhere between 52%-54% of the market, the rest is being shared between Zain and Mobily. Zain in its recent announcement highlighted that its subscribers base at the end of Q1-2018 stood at 8.4mn, depicting a market share of 18%. Leaving Mobily with a market share in the range of 28%to 30%.
STC (Saudi Telecom Company, mostly owned by the state) is the largest provider in Saudi Arabia, and it offers the best network coverage and Internet speeds.The latest STC report revealed that the number of mobile services users reached 40 million subscribers by the end of last year. Prices and packages are extremely competitive, and STC offers many deals and promotions to entice both locals and visitors. It started with LTE in 2010 and covers around 90% of population by 2015, which is only concentrated in a few towns on 1800 MHz (band 3) and 2300 MHz in TD-LTE (band 30).




Mobily, partly owned by Etisalat, is the 2nd provider in Saudi-Arabia. It still gives good coverage and speeds in populated areas. 4G/LTE is in city centers only: coverage check on 1800 in FD-LTE and 2600 MHz in TD-LTE. Mobily has said the introduction of the fingerprint registration rule led to an "erosion" of its customer base. The requirement was introduced last year by the Communications and Information Technology Commission, who instructed all SIM cards issued in Saudi Arabia to be linked to a fingerprint record held at the National Information Center.


Zain is the smallest provider in the country with 2G, 3G and 4G/LTE services on a GSM platform. Network coverage and Internet speeds are good around the main towns and cities, but as with all providers in Saudi Arabia, the signal will struggle as you head toward the desert regions. 4G is on 900, 1800 and 2100 MHz, all on FD-LTE, partly with three-band aggregation like in Jeddah. Zain offers the lowest rates in the Kingdom right now.

However Zain Saudi’s lost around 1.7 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2018, falling 17 percent to 8.4 million. The company said this was in line with a country-wide decrease and as a result of the government’s biometric identification project (which reduced the number of pre-paid SIMs to two per ID).



Zain has selected Ericsson to develop and test selected 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) cases. The new partnership will accelerate digitalization in the region, enabling rapid deployment of innovative services in the Internet of Things (IoT) in the coming years.
The 5G and IoT agreement covers live demonstrations and strengthens technical cooperation between the two companies and will ensure smooth 4G to 5G evolution across Zain’s networks.Bader Al Kharafi, Group CEO of Zain, said: 
“5G will open the door for new applications that will transform consumer behavior and industries. By introducing these new technologies, we will enrich the digital lifestyles of individuals and support the growth and development of businesses.”
In addition to the three main mobile operators, Saudi Operators also host couple of MVNOs. Lebara Mobile Saudi Arabia uses Mobily Network and Virgin Mobile KSA is hosted by STC.

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Sunday, 20 May 2018

Three Middle East Operators launch 'World's First' 5G Networks

I am sure you have heard of the saying, "Good news comes in threes". Well, what better than to have three Middle East operators claim World's First 5G Networks.

1. Ooredoo, Qatar:

Picture Source: IloveQatar

In a press release on 14 May, Ooredoo announced:

Ooredoo has today announced that the company is the first operator in the world to launch a live 5G network on the 3.5GHz spectrum band.

The breakthrough announcement was made in an event attended by Ooredoo senior management at the Ooredoo Tower in West Bay. Attendees were also briefed on the first Ooredoo 5G site which was accomplished just days after Ooredoo’s new 5G Commercial Core Network was activated.

Ooredoo’s 5G network is the first commercially available 5G network in the world and is an important technological breakthrough for the telecommunications industry worldwide.

Speaking at the event, Waleed Al Sayed, Chief Executive Officer, Ooredoo Qatar, said: “Today, Ooredoo and Qatar make history. We are the first company in the world to offer access to 5G technology and services, and the people of Qatar are the first to have access to the incredible benefits this technological upgrade will bring. We dedicate this important milestone to the people of Qatar and to our beloved leaders, who have encouraged this step in building the knowledge-based economy of Qatar.”

The first stage of Ooredoo’s 5G Supernet deployment will cover an area from The Pearl Qatar to Hamad International Airport, with Lagoona, Katara Cultural Village, West Bay, the Corniche and Souq Waqif also included in the initial commercial launch coverage area.

The Ooredoo 5G service offers the latest network technology (5G NR) meaning much higher speeds, capacity, and better latency, than existing cellular systems. The new network will bring advantages over the previous generations of cellular technology and will enable business and consumer customers to unlock more of their potential and explore opportunities that were simply not possible before 5G.

“Ooredoo has been a leader in 5G service deployment since 2016. We have invested in the testing and installation of our 5G network so that we can confidently open its benefits fully to our people and the world. The 5G Supernet will be the infrastructural backbone of Qatar as our nation pushes to offer the latest smart applications in-line with Qatar National Vision 2030. This network will provide the necessary foundation to introduce a wave of new innovations, including driverless cars and smart roads, virtual and augmented reality, a national fleet of service drones, and much more,” added Waleed Al Sayed.

In becoming the first company in the world to deploy commercial 5G, Ooredoo has built upon an impressive number of earlier milestones, including the first-in-the-region trials of 5G on Qatar National Day in 2016, the completion of 10 5G-ready base stations in May 2017, and the launch of the 5G Business services trial in partnership with Qatar Airways in November 2017.

Access to the Ooredoo 5G Supernet will require a 5G compatible device from Ooredoo. The company has announced that this is just the beginning of the Ooredoo 5G network, which will continue to be expanded over the coming months to cover even more areas of Qatar.

A video from the launch event as follows:




2. Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Saudi Arabia

Picture Source: TelecomDrive

In a very short press release on 15th May, STC announced:

STC announced the first live 5G network in MENA. This launching is the initial phase for operating the service once 5G special devices are available in the global markets. 

In January 2017, STC succeeded in advanced technical experiments and trials on 5G technology as part of the company's strategy of leading technological development and leading modern and advanced services. 

The widespread use of 5G will facilitate the dissemination of information, promote prosperity of the common digital economy and accelerate changes in productivity methods and lifestyles.

Back in March STC had announced a collaboration with Nokia for 5G launch.

TelecomDrive notes:

Eng. Nasser Al Nasser, STC Group CEO, expressed his proudness of this initial launching that confirms STC`s pioneering position in providing innovative services for the customers around the Kingdom and the region. He added:’ we have confidence, knowledge, and innovation, which will enable us to lead the 5G era”. He said:” the launching of 5G started with operating a number of towers, initially, in the eastern region”. Al Nasser added:”the company will continue working on building the network construction gradually in the cities of the Kingdom until the devices are available during of 2019”


3. Etisalat, UAE

'Khaleej Times' and 'The National' and many others ran an article on the 14th May about Etisalat 5G launch. There were no photos or videos and the press release noted:

In the first phase of the launch, 5G fixed wireless services (fixed and internet services) will be provided in selected locations in UAE, which will gradually expand to other parts of the country depending on consumer demand and requirements. The commercial fixed devices and services will be available for consumers starting from September this year.

Saleh Al Abdooli, CEO, Etisalat Group applauded the efforts of the entire team, he said: "Today's announcement is a historic moment for the company as the commercial launch of the 5G network will set a milestone for the UAE. Etisalat today is the first telecom operator in the world to provide this ultra-high 5G C-band data speed as a commercial service over the wireless network.

The press release on Etisalat's own website says:

“The launch of the 5G network and associated applications will also bring in an immense potential for all stakeholders providing them a platform to innovate, launch futuristic applications and empower the next generation with digital capabilities. As a company our vision ‘Driving the Digital Future to Empower Societies’ is also focused on making this digital future a reality by facilitating innovation, creativity and bringing technologies of the future to all our audiences across our markets.” 

Keeping in line with its vision of bringing in digital innovation, Etisalat was on track as the first operator in the MENA region to launch the first commercial 5G wireless network achieving a technology milestone and set an industry benchmark. Etisalat is the first operator to have a fully developed commercial 5G network available to provide gigabit internet services to its customers.

Now that the first 5G networks have been rolled out, we can move on and focus on important topics like how to make money and what new use cases will be served by 5G, etc.


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