49.7 million subscribers to telecommunications services, this is the speed of the Internet

"Al Sawahah" sponsored the annual forum "ICT Indicators"

The engineer Abdullah Bin Amer Al Sawahah, Minister of Communications and Information Technology (CITC), chaired the annual forum on ICT Indicators, which theme is "The Digital Transformation of". an ambitious country ", with the participation of a number of leaders and decision makers in the sector. Local and global leaders, telecommunications managers and government officials.

Abdul Aziz bin Salem Al-Ruwais, Governor of CITC, said at the opening of the forum: "The ICT sector is one of the major trends in the development of societies in modern times. its direct and indirect impact on the performance of various sectors, Productive and service sectors: boost productivity, strengthen competitiveness, the economies of developing countries and encourage innovation.

He emphasized that one of the most important factors for the success of development plans, programs and economic projects and investments for all sectors: the existence of databases and information accurate and constantly updated , as well as the presence of such data on the ICT sector, makes it possible to highlight the reality of the sector in the Kingdom in international and regional forums.

Statistical information

Mr. Al-Ruwais added that the CITC was interested in statistical information as a tool to know the current market situation and the availability of the services it contains, in order to develop strategies and policies. regulations guaranteeing the availability of basic infrastructure and equipment, as well as the dissemination of services in all regions of the Kingdom.

"In order to facilitate the work of researchers, researchers and those involved in telecommunication service indicators, TRA has set up this year an electronic platform enabling the user to obtain indicators. and statistics for the sector.This platform allows him to display the indicators in the form of multiple tables and graphs in detail,, underlining that the creation of this forum stems from the role of the Authority in the participation data and indicators of the activity of communication and information technologies, as well as the collection in one place of stakeholders and specialists, to discuss and discuss the indicators of sector in time and anticipate future trends.

Statistical indicators

He added that the statistical indicators reflect important developments in the ICT services market in recent years, namely the development of policies and regulatory legislation, as well as the signing of financial settlement agreements with telecommunications and government agencies that will help strengthen the capacity of these companies to invest in their networks, upgrade the sector to improve the quality of services provided and meet the aspirations of the users of the Kingdom, which translates into increase in the prevalence of these services, up to the total contribution in commercial services mobile salons 49.7 million subscriptions, concluded with the prevalence of voice services, including at the population level to 127%, as well as to ensure coverage of fourth generation technologies for about 90% of the Kingdom, including including isolated centers, villages and hamlets.

Speed ​​of the Internet

As for the speed of the Internet, Mr. Ruwais pointed out that the latest international reports indicate that the average download speed in the kingdom of the mobile Internet at 31.06 Mbps, against 25.27 Mbps on average around the world, reflecting the Kingdom's progress in Internet speeds. This is due to the efforts of the Ministry and the Authority to improve the speed of the Internet and improve the performance of telecommunication networks and services, as well as the deployment of modern communication technologies throughout the Kingdom, through at the introduction of several spectrum auctions that will increase the total spectrum allocated to communication services. Mobile data in the UK from 260 MHz to 1010 MHz, which will help to double the speed of the Internet.

Data consumption

In terms of data, end-2018 data consumption exceeded 15 million terabytes (30.0%) and Internet data consumption (54%) on fixed networks (46%).

Fifth generation

With regard to the fifth generation and modern technologies, the Authority has issued temporary licenses for fifth-generation network experiments, the identification of special frequency bands for fifth-generation technologies on the basis of global trends and the treatment of 153 generation V sites in nine cities, of 680 trials for the fifth generation.

Dear guests

Regarding the service of pilgrims, he said that telecommunication services had reached high indicators during the Hajj season in 1439H, where the number of local and international calls reached 439 million calls, that had gone through 16,000 "Tower Etisalat" base stations, while the volume of downloaded data reached 30,600 The Internet download speed in Mecca reached 26.45 Mbps, an improvement of 128% over 1438H, while the Internet download speed in Medina was 31.59 Mbps, an improvement of 200% over the previous year. In 1438 AH.

Ruwais said the ICT sector is one of the most important pillars of the national transformation agenda to support the vision of the 2030 Kingdom. The program includes strategic objectives related to the intermediate objectives at the horizon. 2020. He added that the data and statistics of the current situation are the cornerstone of the development of performance indicators in the coming phase, In terms of ICT infrastructure development, broadband and networking. innovation in advanced technologies, as well as investments in the digital economy.

Performance indicators

CITC's performance indicators have recently contributed to the implementation of its ambitious strategic plan, which is helping to strengthen the Kingdom's position as a world leader and to increase its competitiveness in the region and globally.

He added that the performance indicators helped to meet the requirements of the current phase of telecommunication and information technology dissemination, the availability of fiber optic networks and wireless networks to provide a secure connection. Reliable Internet, in addition to the quality of service monitored regularly, and field measurements for the introduction is in line with the best standards and the Authority always seeks, in all its programs, to keep abreast of developments communication and information technologies and the introduction of new developments in the interests of the homeland and the citizen.

Information Society

He concluded by saying that the transformation of the information society was a strategic goal and an urgent necessity if we wanted to achieve sustainable development, catch up with progress and competition and increase the capacity of the society. society and its potential, and that is what the Kingdom seeks and seeks to achieve and can, God willing, the construction of an information society is the result of a common effort that requires cooperation and partnership between all parties.

The CITC revealed the results of the survey of the ICT market in the Kingdom in 2018. It also organized a number of roundtables on the most important trends of digital transformation in the Kingdom through the participation From a number of experts in the ICT sector, the conference will be held on the sidelines of the forum, which will present the company's key solutions in digital transformation and intelligence applications. artificial, with the participation of telecommunication and computer companies of the Kingdom.