In the hopes of accelerating the adoption and deployment of Wi-Fi6E in Saudi Arabia, the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has published its ‘WLAN Regulations’, which strengthens the Kingdom’s regional and global leadership in the field Wi-Fi and license-exempt technologies, activates the latest generation of high-speed telecommunication technologies in the Kingdom, and enables the use of emerging and future technologies.
The ‘WLAN Regulations’ set out regulatory policy for the use of WLAN applications in the Kingdom and it makes available new spectrum in the 6 GHz and 60 GHz bands to stimulate further use of WLAN applications.
The WLAN regulation includes spectrum access rights, technical conditions, spectrum bands available for WLAN uses, indoor and outdoor usage restrictions.
The regulations is expected to support CITC’s role as a digital regulator in enabling wireless technologies, enhance the quality of the wireless broadband services in the kingdom, enable innovative and smart applications, adopt the latest wi-fi technologies in the kingdom, and contribute to the growth of digital economy.
CITC plays a strategic role as a digital regulator to enable the digital transformation of the Kingdom and maximize its digital economical value. This role is being executed through its progressive spectrum policy to implement the National Spectrum Strategy 2025 and the CITC Outlook for Commercial and Innovative Use of Spectrum 2023, which has a main pillar focusing on enabling the new generation of wireless services. Going forward CITC aims to consolidate its position for releasing large amounts of spectrum in an innovative manner to facilitate multiple use cases.
This innovative approach led the Wi-Fi Alliance to endorse the Kingdom’s leadership in enabling the next generation of wireless services which will unleash a wave of new Wi-Fi 6E products and services to Saudi Arabia’s consumers, enterprises, and economy. CITC aims to ensure the regulatory transparency and to enable the latest emerging technology applications such as WiGig, virtual and augmented reality (VR / AR) and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Underpinning this ambition is CITC’s ongoing policy of engaging with industry stakeholders and collaborating with vendors and service providers that has resulted in its establishment of a flexible regulatory framework that increases capacity and creates the environment to facilitate the rapid deployment of a new generation of wireless services. In addition, CITC has collaborated with vendors in the industry to facilitate importing the new generation of Wi-Fi devices (Wi-Fi 6E) into the Kingdom.
