Mobily partners with Ericsson for Makkah 5G test

Saudi telecom services operator Mobily has announced that it had successfully conducted site tests in co-operation with techology giant Ericsson for its 5G services in Makkah during which the speeds reached more than 1 GB.

The test is a first-of-its-kind in the Haram area, which has one of the highest concentration of mobile users in the world, said a statement from Mobily.

Upon deployment of the service, 5G will boost their customer experience, it added.

Alaa Al Malki, the chief technology officer of Mobily, said: "Our vision as a company is in line with Saudi Arabia’s national agenda that emphasises the importance of technologies such as 5G to form the pillars of an innovative society."

"Mobily continues its efforts in enabling digital technologies that empower customers and the ecosystem to lead the way to a digital future. Our partnership with Ericsson is part of our ambition to evolve towards the next-generation mobile technology 5G and contribute to Saudi Vision 2030," explained Al Malki.

"Consumers will notice much faster download and upload speeds with the 5G network, more stable connections, lower latency, the ability to connect a higher number of devices to the network, as well as see a considerable reduction in device energy consumption and related costs," he added.

According to him, 5G will also enable Mobily to present many opportunities for enterprises and industries in the kingdom.

Users will also enjoy a much better experience using certain applications such as VR (virtual reality). The quality of videos and streaming will also be markedly improved as higher definition will become the norm, noted Al Malki.

On a grander scale, IoT (Internet of things) will become widely used as related applications become easier to deploy given faster speeds and lower latency, he added.-TradeArabia News Service