JEDDAH: The Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC), the Kingdom's telecom regulator, has had mobile companies install more than 1,000 signal transmission and reception devices to guarantee effective mobile phone coverage at the Holy Sites during this year's Haj. Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Jafari, the CITC Governor, said dealing with coverage inside the Holy Sites' Train will be “a new experience”. “The train travels at different altitudes and we have to deal with this differently,” he added. He said there are efforts underway to ensure the train stations are completely covered to guarantee good mobile coverage. He said the CITC had asked mobile companies to provide it with their plans for the Haj season. The plans were reviewed taking into consideration the new expansions and problems that occurred last year. “We've checked all preparations and equipment and made sure they work efficiently.” He said the breakdown in communication last year was due to rain that damaged one cable for fixed-lines. This did not affect the mobile network. “I am satisfied with the companies' preparations. However, there are new developments at the Holy Sites including the increase in capacity, which puts more burden on the communication sector to adapt and deal with them to preserve the quality of service.” Meanwhile, Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) has its full resources deployed to match the huge efforts of the government to serve the pilgrims. Khalid Al-Kaf, Mobily's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, said the company was keen to provide high value, reliable and uninterrupted communication services to the pilgrims. This season, revealed Al-Kaf, Mobily expanded its network capacity by adding another 100 fixed and mobile towers, all dialed in to its fiber-optic network to meet the expected increase in demand.
