Saudi Arabia has been ranked among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of the Internet speed on mobile networks and second among G20 countries in providing frequency spectrum to offer mobile telecommunication services.
The Communications and Information Technology Commission recently launched an initiative to reallocate the frequency spectrum, which is one of the limited natural resources owned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is used in industries of modern radio technologies, mainly in radio communications, in addition to surveillance, control, sensors and radio systems, among others, reported Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
To achieve this goal, the Commission coordinated with public and private authorities, with the support of the National Transformation Program, to provide more than 800 megahertz of frequency spectrum of outdated usages and reallocate them to be available for commercial use by mobile communication service providers to increase capacities of radio networks and improve the quality of services.
The Commission, during the period between 2017 and 2019, held four public auctions for frequency spectrum, that resulted in increasing the frequencies allocated for mobile communication networks from 260 megahertz to 1,110 megahertz, which resulted in increasing the average of Internet download speed over mobile networks to more than tenfold (from 7 megabits per second in mid-2017 to more than 97 megabits per second by the end of 2020), where Saudi Arabia has become among the top 10 countries in terms of Internet speed on mobile networks and second among G20 countries in terms of providing frequency spectrum to offer mobile communication services.
Reallocating frequency spectrum for mobile services in Saudi Arabia has contributed to stimulating investments in the radio infrastructure by up to SR40 billion ($10.6 billion) over the past three years.
Due to the importance of this limited resource and efforts to increase its national utilization, Saudi Arabia is planning to publish a roadmap for an innovative and commercial use of the frequency spectrum (2021-2023).
This roadmap includes providing more than 22 gigahertz for innovative and smart radio usages for the frequency spectrum with the aim of supporting the adoption of 5G technologies of mobile communication and 6G of Wi-Fi, high-speed wireless networks, broadband satellite systems, the Internet of Things and the artificial intelligence and what it offers of smart services and options that can be utilized in applications for houses, smart gauges, connected vehicles and fleet management (vehicles and robots) among other applications.
It also aims to provide multiple frequency ranges for the purpose of experimenting and developing emerging and advanced radio systems and technologies, such as high-altitude platforms and smart wireless transport systems, as well as providing sufficient frequency ranges to enhance the digital radio transmission in Saudi Arabia.
This roadmap includes providing more than 22 gigahertz for innovative and smart radio usages for the frequency spectrum with the aim of supporting the adoption of 5G technologies of mobile communication and 6G of wi-fi, high-speed wireless networks, broadband satellite systems, the Internet of Things and the artificial intelligence and what it offers of smart services and options that can be utilized in applications for houses, smart gauges, connected vehicles and fleet management (vehicles and robots) among other applications.