Opensignal announced in a recent report that Zain KSA won all three awards of the Saudi Arabia 5G User Experience report on Best 5G Download Speed, Best 5G Availability, and Best Download Speed Experience - 5G Users.
Opensignal, the independent global standard for analyzing real-world mobile experience, has announced that Zain KSA is the Kingdom’s leading telecom operator in Opensignal’s Saudi Arabia 5G User Experience report (January 2021). “Zain won all three of our 5G experience awards (5G Availability, 5G Download Speed, and Download Speed Experience - 5G Users) outright and by impressive margins,” Opensignal stated.
According to the report, which quantifies the real-world 5G experience in Saudi Arabia for the first time, Zain KSA’s 5G users saw much faster 5G speeds than 5G users on peer operators. Zain KSA achieved a 374 Mbps average 5G Download Speed overtaking its peers by over 43%. Where 5G Download speed is measured by testing the typical content delivery networks used to host popular mobile apps and websites.
Zain KSA also ranked first in the 5G Availability indicator, scoring an impressive 28.4%, which is at least 7.1% points higher than time spent on peer operator’s 5G network. This means Zain KSA’s 5G users spent more than a quarter of their time connected to 5G, far more than users of any other operator in the Kingdom, as well as in several developed countries.
In parallel, in the Download Speed Experience - 5G Users indicator, the Kingdom’s 5G users saw the fastest overall download speed on Zain KSA’s network averaging 268 Mbps, far ahead of the speeds clocked up by peer operators. The indicator measures the complete average download speed that users have experienced with both a 5G-capable smartphone and access to a 5G network, taking into account the average 3G and 4G Download Speed, as well as their actual 5G download speed using a 5G connection, as well as the amount of time they are connected to each type of network.
Opensignal dubbed Zain KSA’s performance as an “impressive achievement that demonstrates (the operator’s) 5G success,” noting that through its suitably ambitious 5G rollout, Zain KSA was able to transform its mobile experience especially in terms of speed and availability observed by users.
The report indicated that Zain KSA’s “strong 5G availability score is a contributing factor to the Kingdom’s success at the international level for this measure of the mobile experience.” Opensignal revealed that Saudi Arabia achieved an impressive record for 5G Availability globally in a recent observation of the 5G experience across 15 leading 5G countries.
The new acclamation adds to a list of milestones that Zain KSA’s 5G network has achieved, mainly owing to a well-planned infrastructure investment and an operational strategy that balances growth, innovation, and expansion, which enabled Zain KSA to rollout the largest 5G network in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, and the fourth largest 5G network in the world.
Since its inception in the Kingdom, Zain KSA’s 5G network has expanded to cover 50 cities via +4,700 towers providing the best and fastest 5G experience through the 5G Carrier Aggregation feature that enables 5G speeds up to 2.4 Gbps, and which Zain KSA was the first telecom operator in the world to offer.
Commenting on the new milestone, CEO of Zain KSA, Eng. Sultan Bin AbdulAziz AlDeghaither, said: “Once again, Zain KSA proves its digital leadership as confirmed by prestigious global entities. Such achievements motivate us to continue the journey of development and expansion that Zain KSA has always maintained, even under the most difficult circumstances, inspired by the aspirations of the Kingdom’s astute leadership and Saudi Vision 2030, which drive us to achieve the best for our people and our economy.”
AlDeghaither continued, “We uphold our firm commitment to be pioneers of innovation and to lead the generation of the fourth industrial revolution, and to support our beloved Kingdom’s pursuit of a broad digital transformation, economic diversification, and higher competitiveness, all while improving the quality of life and empowering society.” He added: “We are confident that developing Zain KSA’s 5G network services and expanding its geographic coverage will unlock unlimited growth opportunities in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things and other futuristic technologies.”
Notably, Opensignal’s report is the latest achievement of Zain KSA’s 5G network which has been hailed locally, regionally, and internationally since its launch. The company recently won Ookla’s SpeedTest awards for Saudi Arabia’s “fastest fixed Internet” during H1 and H2 2020. Additionally, Zain KSA won three accolades during the Telecom Review Leaders’ Summit, for “Best 5G User Growth,” “Best 5G Infrastructure Deployment,” and “Best Cloud Provider.” Locally, Zain KSA outperformed other operators in "Meqyas", published by the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) where in its Q3 2020 report, Zain KSA ranked first in four indicators: fixed internet speed, 5G deployment across regions, 5G deployment across governorates, and lowest latency to most played video games.