United Nations Praises the Great Efforts of the Telecommunications Sector in the Kingdom for the Success of Hajj 1438H

The United Nations specialized agency for telecommunications praised the Kingdom's great efforts in providing telecommunications services to more than 2.3 million pilgrims. The agency stated, in a statement today, that Hajj is the largest annual gathering in the world for more than (2.3) million Muslims, representing one of the most special and important moments in their lives. The agency added that, thanks to the great support of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and the supervision and follow-up of His Excellency the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Eng. Abdullah bin Amer Alswaha, and His Excellency the Governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission, Dr. Abdulaziz bin Abdulaziz Al-Ruwais, the Kingdom harnessed all its capabilities to overcome all difficulties to enable millions of pilgrims to perform their rituals with complete ease, by providing the largest telecommunications infrastructure in the world in the Makkah, Madinah and holy sites region; to keep pace with the growing demand for telecommunications services, having provided more than (13) thousand mobile telephone stations with second-, third- and fourth-generation technologies, with an (80%) increase in fourth-generation stations compared to last year, as well as providing more than (3,700) telecommunications and information technology specialists working around the clock.

The agency noted that the performance of mobile telecommunications networks during the Hajj season recorded very high levels, with the number of calls exceeding (700) million calls with a success rate exceeding (99%), and data traffic volume exceeding (23) thousand terabytes, noting that the network capacity of mobile telecommunications service providers in Makkah and Madinah reached (75) million subscribers. The agency concluded its statement by saying that the Kingdom is working on a partnership with all academic circles to consider how to harness new technologies such as wearable devices, and crowd movement management and prediction to avoid congestion.

It should be noted that the United Nations specialized agency for telecommunications is the oldest intergovernmental organization and specialized agency for telecommunications and information technology within the United Nations, having become one of the United Nations specialized agencies in 1947. The Union's membership includes (193) countries and more than (800) entities from the private sector and academic institutions, operating on the principle of international cooperation between governments (member states) and the private sector (sector members, associates, and academic institutions).