Over 7000 Employees Working Around the Clock to Provide Telecommunications Services and Prepare 68 Offices
 

GaStat: There are 13,776 Towers to Ensure Good Cellphone Coverage and 5G Technology in Mecca and the Holy Places for Pilgrims 

To raise the efficiency of ICT services in Mecca and the Holy Places, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology deployed 5G technology during this year’s Hajj in Mecca, Medina, and the Holy Places, providing pilgrims with quality services. The ministry launched the second phase of the Smart Hajj initiative, which offers a number of applications, platforms and digital and awareness services. This year, the initiative included a volunteer training platform for pilgrims, a virtual reality platform to instruct pilgrims abroad on performing rites, as well as a platform for smart phone applications that would make it easier for pilgrims to benefit from a number of application during their journey. 

As per the statistics of the 1440 AH Hajj, provided to pilgrims by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the General Authority for Statistics, the total number of employees providing telecommunications and IT services to pilgrims during the season this year reached 7098 employees, working around the clock to provide advanced and adequate communications services. The Communications and Information Technology Commission supervises all services provided to the guests of Rahman in coordination with licensed telecommunications and IT service providers. 
There is a total of 68 telecommunications offices in Mecca. The total number of mobile towers in the Great Mosque, Mecca, Mina, Muzdalifah, Arafat and Medina was 13,776 towers, ensuring mobile communication coverage, data coverage, and coverage of land, sea and airports, roads, and Meeqaths with full telecommunication and internet services;

In regards to services provided, the Mecca branch of the Communications and Information Technology Commission in Mecca periodically checks sound and Internet indicators and verifies their effectiveness, surveys mobile network bandwidth between the Two Holy Mosques, monitors highways linking Mecca, Jeddah and Medina to ensure mobile service quality, addresses any harmful interference affecting network performance, and allows the use of temporary usage of certain frequencies for each mobile operator to increase network capacity and improve the level of services provided to pilgrims in Mecca, Medina, and the Holy Places. 
Authorized telecom operators in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are located in more than 68 points of sale across the Holy of Places to provide SIM cards, data, and top-up cards, in addition to providing technical support centers in various languages to serve pilgrims. 
The General Authority for Statistics provides many details through the Hajj statistics register for 1440 AH, created to publish all statistics related to Hajj services provided by the government agencies to pilgrims, through its official website at www.stats.gov.sa [1]