Residents of Saudi Arabia can start downloading a movie to their smartphones in just seconds as 5G network and extremely fast mobile services will be available in the next months.
Haytham Al-Ohali, Vice Minister of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, has told Arab News there are about 1,000 telecom towers supporting 5G in the Kingdom.
However, Al-Ohali emphasized that the launching of the technology is geared towards the industry which can boost Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product by $19 billion and generate 20,000 jobs by the year 2030.
Al-Ohali also stated that while the newest technology can be available to its direct consumers, 5G network’s real use is for machines and the industry which include machine-to-machine communication.
“I think (consumers) will love the extra speed that 5G brings, but in a country where 4G is very robust like Saudi Arabia and provides good speeds — currently Saudi Arabia is ranked ahead of the UK and Japan in terms of 4G speeds — I don’t think that increment is really worth the investment from the operators. What I think the promise is, is industry, machine-to-machine.” Al-Ohali told Arab News.
