Saudi Arabia: Mobily has acquired 600,000 broadband subscribers in two years

[zawya] Mobile broadband is presenting astounding mobile broadband subscriber growth in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to figures released by Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) Sunday.

After 24-months of operations, Mobily said it had 600,000 mobile broadband subscribers presenting 126% uptake on 2008 yearend results of 266,000 subscribers and 445% growth when compared to 2008, second quarter results. Basically, mobile broadband subscribers are any Mobily customers who connect to the Internet using any of the three high-volume monthly bundles - 1 GB, 5 GB or unlimited bundle.

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 yearend 2008 daily performance of 18.5 terabytes a day, allowing Mobily to maintain its position of having the busiest mobile data network on the face of the planet.

"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 Chief Executive Officer 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.

As HSPA grows into HSPA+, and then evolves into 4G LTE that future may come much sooner than later, the Mobily executive advised.

In March, Mobily said it had upgraded its mobile data network to support high-speed uplink packet access (HSUPA) technology as a first operator in the region and the Middle East to match the high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) segment of its network, 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.

Mobily regionally kick-started demand for mobile broadband by launching on May 19, 2007, the region's first and so far only unlimited mobile broadband bundle at an affordable monthly charge of SR350 ($93), along with another two high-usage bundles, the 5GB and 1GB bundle for SR200 and SR100, respectively. Responding to pent-up demand, Mobily signed up 50,000 users in the first few months.

Mobily has moved aggressively into mobile and wireless data provision over the past two years. Earlier this month, Mobily launched a new handset that doubles as an entertainment phone and HSPA modem. In February, Mobily brought the iPhone 3G to the Kingdom. Last year, Mobily formalized the acquisition of Bayanat Al Oula and re-launched WiMAX services to the public under the broadband@home brand.

Mobily acquires 600k broadband subscribers in less than 2 years