Al Khobar becomes first MENA city to get 5G network

Al Khobar has become the first city in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to benefit from a pilot project on the fifth-generation wireless network, or 5G network, the Kingdom’s Center of International Communication (CIC) said on its website.

A report released on Thursday by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations’ agency, praised the Kingdom for adopting the latest technology, saying it was launched soon after the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) issued licenses for testing the 5G mobile network using 100 MHz channels in the bandwidth of 3.6GHz – 3.8GHz.

The Kingdom’s regulator plans to convert the test-and-trial licenses to full and exclusive 5G spectrum awards in 3.4-3.8 GHz by mid-2019. The awards of mm-wave spectrum could follow by the beginning of 2020.

“Saudi Arabia is determined to be a world leader in 5G to take early advantage of its benefits,” Abdullah Alsawaha, minister of ICT said.

Dr Abdulaziz bin Salem Al Ruwais, governor of CITC, explained that to achieve a connected society, 5G services require access to spectrum in a variety of bands to support the multitude of use cases, including the need to improve the quality of the services offered, and to accommodate much wider channels than those in use today.

Specialized work is carried out in three subcommittees that deal respectively with 5G Spectrum, 5G Development and 5G verticals.

Over the past year, the telecom regulator awarded 160 MHz of additional IMT spectrum in 700 MHz, 800 MHz and 1800 MHz bands to mobile operators Mobily, STC and Zain.

This makes Saudi Arabia a regional leader in terms of awarded International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) spectrum in sub-GHz IMT bands and should help support the organic growth of domestic mobile network capacities, from 3G and 4G to 5G, according to officials.