RIYADH: Capital cities in the Gulf made up five of the top 10 fastest globally for 5G connectivity in the first half of 2021, according to a new report.
Oslo had the fastest commercially available 5G speeds with a median download speed of 526.74 megabits per second (Mbps), while Seoul was second at 467.84 Mbps, internet metrics provider Ookla said in a report.
Abu Dhabi was the fastest Gulf capital and the third globally at 421.26 Mbps, followed by Doha at 413.40 Mbps. Riyadh was the sixth fastest globally at 384.66 Mbps, Kuwait City was seventh and Muscat eighth. Manama was 15th with a speed of 249.71 Mbps.
The slowest global capital for 5G speeds was Capetown at 53.33 Mbps. Other notable capitals include London at 167.50 Mbps, Tokyo at 167.02 Mbps and Jerusalem at 145.17 Mbps.
A report from Ookla in April showed Saudi Arabia had the highest adoption of 5G in the Gulf as measured by the ratio of samples from devices connected to 5G to the number of samples from all 5G-capable devices, which the firm said is an indicator of the maturity of a country’s 5G market.
Qatar came second, followed by the UAE. Oman, which only launched 5G early this year, was at the bottom of the list.
In June, the Kingdom’s Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) said the coverage of 5G services in the Kingdom has increased during the first quarter of 2021.
The commission said 5G services have been extended to 53 governorates of the Kingdom as compared to 51 in the fourth quarter of 2020.
In its Q1 Meqyas report, the commission said STC and Zain topped the list of broadband services in the Kingdom.
The two companies have deployed 5G services in 43 governorates, while Mobily’s 5G services are available in only 21 governorates. Meqyas, an initiative of the CITC, compares the speeds of service providers in the Kingdom for download, upload, and 5G, ranking the best performing operators in each region and covering the most commonly used applications and video games.
