Mobily is maintaining its leadership in the broadband segment with optimization of coverage and the launch several market making devices across the span of the past few months. Described by the GSM World Association and Informal Telecoms and Media as the leading mobile broadband operator in the region, Mobily ended 2009 with had 1 million broadband subscribers connecting to the Internet using high speed packet access (HSPA), and coverage in 337 regions, provinces, cities and towns across the Kingdom, reaching 80 percent of the population with affordable and mobile broadband service. To build on that success, Mobily has quietly optimized high usage areas across the Kingdom and is now rolling out evolved high speed packet access, otherwise known as HSPA+. In the first quarter of this year, Mobily launched three new specialized connectivity devices, among them two HSPA+ devices, the Router Turbo and the Connect Turbo. A third device the mini router WiFi was also launched to cater to a growing segment of users in the Kingdom, weekend groups, friends who gather together over the weekend in villas on the edges of major cities and those spending the evening on the beach or the desert. “We are sensitive about disclosing numbers at this point, but what I can tell you is that demand for mobile broadband has maintained its momentum and popularity,” said Abdulaziz Al Tamami, Mobily's chief operations officer. “We have dominated the personal connectivity segment of the market with our Connect brand of USB modems, and have upped user service level expectations from slow narrow-band connectivity like dialup to broadband speeds,” he added. When Mobily launched its high volume mobile broadband bundles in May 2007, service delivery times literally dropped from weeks to minutes, as customers walked in, bought devices and subscriptions, and connected to the Internet immediately, provided of course there was coverage in their area. Coverage grew from 18 hotspots spread around the Kingdom to cover 80 percent of the population in a swift two and a half years. More important, according to Al Tamami, was introducing the concept of mobility. “Broadband in your pocket has had a dramatic effect on ICT market dynamics over the past three years,” he said. All over major cities, travelers can be seen connecting from their laptops using Mobily Connect modems.
