JEDDAH: Saudi Telecom Company (STC) has announced it will provide 1GB free for every pilgrim who uses its prepaid services as a gift to pilgrims during this year’s Hajj season.
The gift is aimed at facilitating their experience during Hajj on the day of Tarwiya and Arafat, as part of an initiative organized by the Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Communications and Information Technology Commission.
STC Chairman, Nasser bin Sulaiman Al-Nasser, explained that the company’s gift came as a result of instructions from King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to all governmental and private bodies related to the service of pilgrims.
The gift also embodies the Kingdom’s slogan for this year’s Hajj season, “The World in the Heart of the Kingdom,” adding that the company deployed more than 1,700 employees to serve the worshippers, with the support of government and private sectors working to serve pilgrims.
The chairman also announced that the number of international roaming networks for this year’s Hajj season has increased to more than half a million international circuits, an increase of 27% compared to last year, which will facilitate the communication and data transmission between the Kingdom and all countries around the world.
Saudi telecoms company offers 1 GB free for users on the days of Tarwiya and Arafat
Saudi telecoms company offers 1 GB free for users on the days of Tarwiya and Arafat
Japanese researchers hope to restore coral from Saudi-made structures
- Coral skeletons made for Saudi Pavilion at Japan expo last year
- Results of Japanese study to be revealed at Riyadh Expo 2030
TOKYO: Japanese universities are seeking to restore coral reefs and marine ecosystems after receiving artificial structures that Saudi Arabia made and showcased at last year’s Osaka-Kansai Expo.
The coral skeletons were donated to the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa and Kansai University in Osaka Prefecture, Kyodo News reported at the weekend.
The structures are made from calcium carbonate, a material on which corals are believed to grow more easily compared to artificial alternatives such as concrete or metal.
The skeletal structures were created using 3-D printers, with one piece produced a day during the expo, and displayed across an entire wall in the Saudi Arabia Pavilion, which had an area focusing on sustainable marine environments.
Coral reefs serve as habitats for much marine life, but over 40 percent of the world’s 892 species face possible extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The University of the Ryukyus, which received about 150 of the artificial coral skeletons, will place them in waters off the eastern coast of Okinawa’s main island and then examine their impact on the ecosystem.
Kansai University has placed theirs in the sea around Kagoshima Prefecture’s Yoron Island to observe their growth after transplanting coral polyps onto the structures.
The results of the research are expected to be revealed at the Riyadh Expo in 2030.
“I had never imagined that Japan and Saudi Arabia would cooperate on coral research,” said Masato Ueda, a professor specializing in regenerative medicine at Kansai University.
Ueda said he wants to demonstrate to children that “humanity is attempting to restore the environment.”
