Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia’s fourth generation (4G) mobile coverage reached 90%, governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) said.

The average mobile internet speed stood at 31.06 megabit per second (Mbps), compared to the global average of 25.27 Mbps, Abdulaziz Al-Ruwais added on Wednesday during the ICT Indicators Forum.

Mobile subscriptions registered 49.7 million, while voice service penetration rate hit 127% throughout the kingdom, Al-Ruwais noted.

At the end of 2018, above 15 million terabytes of data was used through fixed-line and mobile networks with 54% and 46%, respectively.

Telecommunications firms conducted 680 fifth generation (5G) trials, he added, noting that temporary 5G licences were issued to the kingdom’s mobile operators to conduct 5G mobile trials.

Etihad Etisalat Company (Mobily) announced earlier acquiring 100 MegaHertZ (MHZ) of the additional spectrum in the 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum in an effort to boost the efficiency of spreading 5G network.