Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia’s Al-Khobar city has seen the first pilot project for the fifth generation wireless network (5G) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which was carried out in the first week of Islam's holy month of Ramadan, according to a press release by the Center of International Communication.
The 5G project started after the Kingdom’s Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) issued licences to test the 5G mobile network via using 100 MHz channels in the bandwidth of 3.6GHz–3.8GHz, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said in a report.
By mid-2019, the Saudi CITC plans to transfer 5G pilot licences to complete spectrums in bandwidth of 3.4-3.8 GHz.
The full implementation of 5G technology in the GCC nation is part of the Saudi Vision 2030 in an effort to diversify the oil-dependent economy and invest more heavily in infrastructure
“Saudi Arabia is determined to be a world leader in 5G to take early advantage of its benefits,” Communications and Information Technology Minister Abdullah Al-Sawaha indicated.
In a bid to boost the development of 5G and prepare the necessary administrative groundworks, the Kingdom has formed the national 5G task force at the beginning of 2018.
“The successful rollout of 5G would require significant levels of commercial investment,” said Majed Almazyed, the Deputy Governor of CITC for Technology and Infrastructure and the Chair of the 5G Task Force.
