RIYADH – Saudi Arabia's Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) launched a public consultation to set its five-year outlook for commercial and innovative use of radio spectrum.

In the consultation, CITC proposes to make available over 10 GHz of additional radio spectrum by 2024 across a wide range of frequency bands, thus creating a thriving digital environment that will meet Saudi Arabia’s technological needs as it moves forward.

The Kingdom currently ranks among the lead G20 countries in spectrum allocation for mobile broadband services.

The consultation invites the views of all interested parties on a range of measures, which will transform Saudi Arabia into one of the world’s leading digital societies, in line with plans laid out in Vision 2030.

CITC is inviting feedback on the upcoming spectrum allocation from many sources, including local and international wireless industry, academia, public and private entities, as well as end-users of digital services and radio technologies.

Dr. Mohammed Al Tamimi, governor of CITC, affirmed: “CITC will proceed with the release of this unprecedented amount of commercial spectrum, over the period 2020-2024, to achieve the goals of National Spectrum Strategy.

“The release of this spectrum should set a paradigm shift in the region with regard to spectrum allocation for innovative use and enabling emerging radio technologies in the Kingdom.

“This consultation will elicit invaluable feedback from a wide variety of international stakeholders and help us to formulate an effective spectrum outlook to contribute significantly toward making Saudi Arabia one of the world’s advanced digital societies.”

The public consultation is an important initiative, which comes as part of CITC’s recently approved National Spectrum Strategy (NSS). The NSS was set up to manage and enhance the efficient usage of the national spectrum by 2025. The submissions from interested parties of the consultation document are open till Sept. 27, 2020. — SG