Mobile broadband take-up growing at 126% - Mobily

MOBILE DATA: Mobily, which launched the iPhone 3G in Saudi in Feb, says mobile data services will soon outstrip fixed line subscriptions. (Getty Images)

Mobile broadband uptake in Saudi Arabia is currently growing at a rate of 126 percent, figures released by Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) on Sunday reveal.

After 24 months of operations, Mobily said it had 600,000 mobile broadband subscribers presenting 126 percent uptake on 2008 year-end results of 266,000 subscribers and 445 percent growth when compared to the second quarter of 2008.

For May alone, daily mobile data consumption reached 37 terabyte, and over one petabyte of traffic exchanged over the month, doubling consumption as compared to the end of 2008.

Mobily's daily performance of 18.5 terabytes makes its mobile data network the busiest in the world, the company said.

"History is about to repeat itself. In the late 1990s and the early 21st century, mobile phone subscriptions overtook fixed line subscriptions," said Khalid Al Kaf, managing director and CEO of Mobily.

"Very soon, that same thing will happen with mobile data. Mobile data and wireless subscriptions will overtake fixed line data subscriptions, in numbers of customers and in revenue," he added.

"We live in a fast paced and dynamic world. People want broadband service and want it today. Mobile and wireless can deliver," Al Kaf pointed out.

In March, Mobily said it had upgraded its mobile data network to support high-speed uplink packet access (HSUPA) technology and offer a full high speed packet access (HSPA) mobile broadband experience to its customers in the more than 220 areas it covers with 3.75G.

In February, Mobily brought the iPhone 3G to the kingdom.

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