The GSMA has published an analysis showing how robust 5G growth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has followed ambitious 5G spectrum assignments.
As governments worldwide strive towards realizing industry targets of 2GHz of mid-band spectrum for 5G, the GSMA report details how the strong development of 5G in the Gulf has delivered some of the fastest 5G services in the world.
The GSMA's 'Roadmaps for awarding 5G spectrum in the MENA region' provides a guide for 5G development by outlining the steps governments and regulators should take to enable the most efficient and effective availability of spectrum.
The Gulf region was one of the first to assign key mid-band spectrum for 5G, and three regional giants – Etisalat, stc, and Ooredoo – competed to be the world's first 5G operator in 2018. Since then, spectrum assignment has supported growth opportunities in the Gulf region. Today, mobile operators in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and UAE have access to more than 1 GHz of licensed spectrum to provide mobile broadband services in the low- and mid-bands. Alongside other Gulf markets, this places them among the leading 5G countries in Europe, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific.
"GCC countries such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have become 5G pioneers, deploying some of the world's first 5G networks. And countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey have started to identify suitable 5G spectrum to launch services during 2023,” said GSMA head of MENA, Jawad Jalal Abbassi.
