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The Kingdom has the third-fastest 5G download speed in Europe, Middle East and Africa (Emea), ranking higher than any other Arab country with a land area greater than 200k km2 at speeds of up to 230.7 Mbps, according to the latest Opensignal figures. Saudi was also the top Arab country for average download speeds and 6th overall, boasting average speeds of 43.2 Mbps — a 14% y-o-y improvement from last year.
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Rankings among Emea countries were split into two groups, one for countries with over 200k km2 in land area (Group I) and another for those with less (Group II). Qatar took the lead in Group II among its Emea peers with 5G download speeds of 359.2 Mbps, followed by Denmark at 293.3 Mbps. Kuwait came third with 5G download speeds of 272.7 Mbps with Bahrain ranking fourth and UAE ranking 7th.
How things look within GCC’s capitals: Riyadh came second after Kuwait City for GCC capitals with an overall download speed of 54.5 Mbps. It came in fifth in terms of download speeds when connected to 5G at 260.9 Mbps behind Abu Dhabi, Manama, Kuwait City and Doha.
More consumers are switching to 5G: The percentage of mobile connections that are 5G in the GCC are forecast to rise by 11 to 13 percentage points by the end of the year, the report said, citing forecasts by GSMA Intelligence. It sees average 5G adoption in those markets reaching 95% by the end of the decade compared with a global average of 54%.
More advanced 5G is coming to the region: The 5G Advanced, which is an update to existing 5G networks by leveraging AI and machine learning to boost network performance, is already gaining momentum in GCC markets. Zain KSA said it plans to launch 5G Advanced in eight cities here between 2024 and 2026. The UAE’s telecoms regulator TDRA also plans to outline a plan for the deployment of the technology in the country.
ALSO IN TELECOMS- King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (Kaust) has extended for two years a research and development partnership on 5G and 6G with Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson for, according to a statement.
