After years of hype about gigabit-speed mobile network, the next-generation of mobile services – 5G became a reality in 2018. However, the service coverage was very limited and only a handful of 5G compatible devices (mainly hotspots and routers) were available. Mobile network operators like SK Telecom, LG Uplus, and KT in South Korea, AT&T and Verizon in the U.S. and Ooredoo in Qatar announced the launch of their pre-commercial 5G networks during 2018. Nonetheless, 2019 witnessed a large scale 5G commercial launches across the globe and the emergence of several 5G use-cases, especially for the enterprise segment. 2020 is expected to see greater availability of 5G enabled devices at cheaper price point, and operators aggressively expanding their 5G coverage, particularly in the Middle East region which has been on the forefront of launching 5G services in 2019.
Key 5G markets in the Middle East:
Saudi Arabia: In June 2019, STC became the first operator to launch 5G commercial services in Saudi Arabia. Zain’s 5G network also went live in June but commercial services were launched in October 2019. As of November 2019, the operator expanded its 5G coverage to 27 cities. In November, Zain group also introduced an international 5G roaming services between its mobile networks in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Earlier in May 2019, Zain KSA was successful in conducting a trail call over its 5G network, without using any voice-calling application. Meanwhile, the third major operator of KSA – Mobily is upgrading its mobile network infrastructure for readying its network for 5G services.
Zain KSA has been actively contributing in mega digital transformation projects, in line with the Saudi Vision 2030. In this context, the operator expanded its 5G network to the Neom Bay Airport in October 2019. Neom, an ambitious mega smart city project promises to be the hub of technological innovation in the region. It plans to build a fully automated ecosystem powered with advanced robots, autonomous cars, and passenger drones. Zain KSA continues to focus on exploring opportunities in the area of IoT and smart services such as self-driving cars, smart city grids, e-government, Industry 4.0 etc., and remains committed towards strengthening its 5G infrastructures across the country.
Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) Saudi Arabia allocated a total 290MHz spectrum in the 2300MHz and 2600MHz bands to STC, Mobily, and Zain for provisioning of 5G and 4G services in January 2019. CITC also awarded Zain with a 15 years license starting from January 2020 for using 100MHz of spectrum in the 3500MHz band for 5G services.
United Arab Emirates: Both Etisalat and Du in UAE launched 5G services during the middle of the year 2019. By end of the year, country’s 80% of the main cities and populated areas were under 5G network coverage as reported by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) UAE. The operators have also conducted standalone 5G trials in the 3.5GHz band with Du achieved a peak download speed of 1.8Gbps using 100MHz and Etisalat claimed to have reached 3.1Gbps using 200MHz.
Earlier in November 2018, TRA allocated 100MHz each to Etisalat and Du in the 3.3GHz-3.8GHz frequency band for 5G services deployment. Besides, the regulator is looking to utilize 1427MHz-1518MHz and 24.25GHz-27.5GHz bands for 5G use, and also could use above 40GHz spectrum post 2020. Furthermore, the regulator is planning to launch “UAE 5G Strategy”, a 5 year (2020-2025) roadmap that will target to achieve a nationwide 5G coverage by 2025. The Telecom Regulatory Authority is also working with its partners and telecom vendors to support 5G development and innovation. To support such collaborations, TRA and Huawei launched a 5G & IoT Open Lab in November 2019. The setup of Open Lab in UAE is providing an engaging platform for operators, third parties and vertical industries to work closely for materializing new 5G and IoT solutions. This lab is facilitating ecosystem partners with the access to a real 5G and IoT network environment to verify, experience, and innovate latest 5G and IoT applications. Key focus of the lab will include application areas like FWA, security cameras, campus private line, cloud gaming and virtual reality among others. Moreover, it will contribute to the development of industry-specific solutions and also address challenges and future demands of local ICT sector.
Kuwait: The country’s three major telecom operators – Zain, STC Kuwait, and Oordeoo launched commercial 5G home broadband services in June 2019. Immediately in July 2019, all three operators also rolled out 5G mobile services and announced the availability of monthly 5G smartphone packages. STC Kuwait claimed to have achieved a nationwide 5G coverage in October. In the same month, the operator also launched a ‘5G Connectivity’ service dedicated exclusively for enterprises. It mainly offers solutions like dedicated data access, dedicated internet access, and on-demand services such as CCTV and cloud PBX. In December 2019, STC inked a deal with Huawei to develop advanced 5G solutions, aiming to support the 5G as well as IoT ecosystem. This agreement will help the operator to deliver VR, AR, and ultra-HD video services for consumers and also accelerate digital transformation across industries like oil/gas, smart cities, and public safety by leveraging the 5G network.
In May 2019, the Communication and Information Technology Regulatory Authority (CITRA) Kuwait announced the completion of its 5G pilot operations and also made available the 3.5Ghz band for operators to roll-out 5G services.
Bahrain: Batelco and STC launched commercial 5G networks in Bahrain in June 2019. STC currently offers 5G FWA home broadband as well as smartphone bundled plans. Meanwhile, Zain is upgrading its network infrastructure and could launch the service commercially in 2020. TRA Bahrain, currently finalizing the 5G roll-out strategy, is yet to conduct 5G spectrum auctions in the country.
Qatar: Despite launching a pre-standard 5G based fixed wireless access (FWA) in 2018; Ooredoo Qatar began offering commercial 5G mobile services only in H2 2019, following the launch of 5G handsets like Huawei Mate 20 X, Samsung S10 5G, etc. On the other hand, Vodafone Qatar launched 5G residential broadband service in April 2019 and announced the availability of mobile services in August 2019. Later in November 2019, the operator launched a 5G MiFi mobile hotspot device, facilitating customers with access of 5G speeds on their existing non-5G devices. The operator is aggressively expanding its 5G reach with the network already covered 70% of the capital city – Doha and also expanded to several key locations across the country including Al Waab, Abu Hamour, Al Azizya, Al Mamoura, Al Rayyan, Umm Salal Muhammed, Khartiyat, Al Hilal, Muntazah, Muraykh and Al Sadd as of November 2019.
The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) in Qatar allocated each operator with a 100MHz block of spectrum in the 3.5GHz-3.8GHz range in January 2019. Moreover, to ease 5G services deployment, the regulator unified all the prior licenses of the operators by replacing them with a single Radio Spectrum License. The license also imposed obligations on the operators to rollout 5G networks across all densely populated areas, major highways and roads, and all FIFA 2022 World Cup venues including stadiums and fan zones by the end of 2020.
Markets driving next wave of 5G development in the Middle East:
Oman: As per the Oman Vision 2040 strategy, Oman’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) issued a 5G roadmap in October 2019. With this roadmap, TRA emphasized on the importance of 5G services for deploying artificial intelligence in data analysis and decision making, which will further drive the overall economic development of the country.
5G licenses to the country’s two major MNOs – Omantel and Ooredoo was issued by the regulator in October. Moreover, to support the rapid rollout of 5G network, the regulator exempted frequency usage fees for the operators for one year. In addition, over 2019-2020, operators are planning to deploy 1,000 5G BTS and further extend it to 4,400 over the period of next five years. With Omantel launched 5G residential broadband service in December 2019, 5G mobile services are expected to be live in early 2020.
Lebanon: Huawei provided the Lebanese government with 10 5G base stations to conduct 5G trials in the country in June 2019. Besides, 5G trials conducted by Touch in its headquarter – Beirut, achieved a download speed of 1.4Gbps in September 2019. With 5G development in the country still in the nascent phase, commercialization of the service is unlikely before the last quarter of 2020.
Pakistan: In July 2019, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) issued guidelines and temporary authorization for operators to roll-out non-commercial 5G networks. In August 2019, Zong claimed to have successfully conducted the first 5G trial in the country and achieved a download speed of above 1Gbps. Jazz followed the suit and conducted its 5G trail recently in January 2020. Jazz partnered with Huawei and achieved a peak transmission speed of 1.4Gbps in the trail run.
Countries like Pakistan with poor fixed line connectivity has the potential to leapfrog with 5G which have the capability to offer higher bandwidth fiber like access speed. Besides serving densely populated areas or cities, 5G network can also extend to remote locations or areas with underdeveloped fixed broadband infrastructure. Moreover, transition to 5G will be further supported by growing affordability and availability of 5G smartphones going forward.
Opportunities and Outlook:
Currently, majority of the carriers are focusing on tapping the increasing demand for higher-speed mobile broadband connectivity by rolling out basic 5G services like enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and FWA. However, the 5G technology is gradually moving beyond from just a fast mobile broadband network and evolving as the key enabler of ultra low-latency applications such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and real-time interactive gaming among others. Moreover, 5G network’s capability to provide massive machine-type communication is further accelerating its adoption in the Middle East IoT/M2M industry. 5G is supporting use cases like intelligent security surveillance systems, connected cars, grid management, fleet management, utility meter reading, track and trace systems for logistics and also driving growth of Industry 4.0 in the region.
Nonetheless, operators will face a challenge to position 5G as a premium service based on just enhanced access speeds as advanced LTE network also offer similar capabilities. In order to monetize 5G and justify the premium, operators will need to significantly differentiate 5G form LTE-A services. Instead of offering 5G as a standalone connectivity service, operators can focus on bundling 5G into an end-to-end service or technology solution. For example, operators can offer their own cloud solution and leverage 5G’s high network availability to provide instant access to the cloud. Carriers can also consider partnering with VR and AR hardware vendors to offer service bundles. In another approach, operators can explore models offering OTT services access like on-demand mobile video along with a dedicated service plan.
Use cases enabled by 5G targeted towards industry verticals and B2B segment:
- 5G enabling digital transformation of the oil & gas industry: For providing seamless communications for daily operations, a reliable, secure and resilient network is of critically important in the oil and gas industry. Amid ongoing digital transformation, the industry is witnessing increasing incorporation of various IoT devices and systems like sensors, AR/VR, security cameras, robotic controls, automated guided vehicles, etc. These are generating very different kind of requirements for throughput, mobility, latency, density, availability, and power. 5G’s URLLC (ultra-reliable low latency communication) capability could be used to address these requirements.
- 5G for intelligent security surveillance system: Security surveillance cameras are increasingly getting integrated with artificial intelligence and multi-access edge computing (MEC) capabilities to help improve the efficacy of video surveillance systems. These cameras demand the highest level of availability, reliability, and speed. As a result, the high bandwidth and ultra-low latency 5G network is becoming the key enabler of such intelligent IP camera based remote video surveillance systems.
- 5G empowering virtual campus network (VCN): Industries with mega/multi-site operations are plagued by the massive challenge of monitoring, operating, maintaining, and securing their diversified complex sites. VCN offers a totally isolated spectrum frequency, with maximum device sharing, and function synchronization between the public network and dedicated network, helping industries to simplify operations, improve efficiency and execution speed of campuses. By leveraging network slicing, 5G based VCN network could meet these service requirements whilst ensuring guaranteed resilience at low latency.
- 5G for cloud gaming: The cloud gaming, also known as on-demand gaming is expected to grow rapidly in the middle east region mainly supported by the rising popularity of online video streaming, cloud computing and storage, and improvements in wireless connectivity. 5G network’s low latency will be a boon for cloud gaming developers/service providers and its emergence will help in building a more powerful cloud gaming ecosystem.
Conclusion:
GCC countries including Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia have been the forerunner in rolling-out 5G networks in the Middle East region during 2019. While, countries like Oman, Lebanon, Egypt, and Turkey are expected to drive the next wave of 5G development in the region over the next two years. In these countries, the regulators have already auctioned or are planning to allocate 5G spectrum, and on the other hand, the mobile network operators are either deploying 5G network infrastructures or carrying out 5G trials. Transition to 5G services in countries like Jordan, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq are unlikely in the near foreseeable future as 3G or 4G networks are still developing in these countries. Despite the development of 5G services is a high priority agenda for the government of Iran, trade sanctions and the ongoing crisis with the U.S. is expected to delay the 5G service launch in the country.
A parallel approach focused on strengthening of fiber core network and at the same time 5G infrastructure deployment can help countries with poor last-mile connectivity leapfrog with 5G network. 5G can provide fiber like access speeds to remote locations where rolling-out fiber connectivity is not cost effective or feasible.
UAE’s initiative in launching a 5G & IoT open lab is building a healthy IoT and 5G ecosystem in the region. The lab is promoting collaboration among ecosystem players, to drive innovation and also support the development of ICT sector locally.
Beyond increased bandwidth, 5G network will drive development of new use cases suited for specific industry verticals. Rather than consumer segment, vast majority of 5G revenues are expected to result from the B2B segment going forward. Although, applications that 5G will enable are potentially limitless, few promising use-cases particularly for the enterprise segment includes intelligent security surveillance systems, connected cars, VCN, and cloud gaming among others. With that being said, the Middle East market is poised for several 5G use cases. In 2020, we expect increased collaboration between the ecosystem players to develop and mature more practical use cases in the B2B space across oil and gas, utilities, government, physical security, and automotive industries.
