LOC23:18
20:18 GMT
RIYADH, Feb 2 (KUNA) -- The Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) on Wednesday announced the rollout of WiFi-6e technology as part of a raft of measures aimed at boosting connectivity in the Kingdom.
CITC Governor Dr. Mohammad bin Saud Al-Tamimi made the announcement on the sidelines of the global technology conference LEAP22, being held in Riyadh on February 1-3, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The latest generation of Wi-Fi technology offers data transfer speeds more than five times faster than the current standard and provides more capacity for high-bandwidth activities such as 8k gaming, video conferencing and virtual reality applications.
"WiFi-6e technology will provide high connection speeds of up to 2.4 GBs., and will position the Kingdom at the cutting edge of technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality and the Internet of Things," SPA quoted Dr. Al-Tamimi as saying.
"As a result, the contribution of Wi-Fi technologies to the Kingdom's GDP is expected to quadruple, rising from USD 4.7 billion in 2021 to more than USD 18 billion by 2030," he noted.
The rollout of WiFi-6e further accelerates the Kingdom's rapid WiFi advance, according to the SPA report.
In 2021, Saudi Arabia became the first country in the Middle East, Europe or Africa to designate all 1200 MHz of the six GHz band for unlicensed use.
As a result, the Kingdom has more than two GHz of spectrum available for Wi-Fi operations - the most mid-band spectrum designated by any country globally.
The Kingdom's WiFi upgrade is to be accompanied by other connectivity-boosting initiatives, including the deployment of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite technology to extend reliable coverage to remote areas of the Kingdom.
The rollout of LEO infrastructure will also connect the Kingdom with the global space market, which stood at around $341 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to USD 576 billion by 2030.
CITC will also hold a frequency auction during the first half of this year, a development which is likely to place Saudi first globally for spectrum available to fifth-generation (5G) networks and mobile communications.
The contribution of 5G technology to GDP is expected to increase from USD 1.4 billion in 2021 to more than USD 15 billion by 2030, the report added. (end)
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