In recent years, we are seeing Saudi Arabia is going through a lot of digital transformation.
At consumer level we saw increased 5G speeds, fiber network expansion, increasing number of data centers and cloud services. But how about the industrial sector? Is it going through changes as well? the answer is yes and this article shows one such transformation.
Recently, Communications, Space, and Technology Commission (CST) announced the qualification of Aramco Digital to obtain a Specialized Radio Network License in the 450 MHz band. So what is this announcement about? Is Aramco becoming a telecom service provider? And what services is going to be offered?
What is 450MHz
LTE 450 is a type of wireless communication network based on a 450 MHz frequency.
How is it different from 4G or 5G? first, 450MHz can reach wider range than 4G or 5G. just to put it in perspective, 450 MHz can cover 2.8 times more area than 850 MHz and 13.6 times more area than 1900 MHz which are used in 4G/5G networks. That is why 4G/5G has in general low coverage in rural/remote area.
Which leads us to the second benefit of 450MHz network, cost effective. Because of wide coverage area means less base stations and less maintenance and less towers to install. This can save the initial investment as well as ongoing maintenance. That is why it could be economically viable now to install 450MHz base stations in rural and remote areas because even with low density of users it can still be economically beneficial.
Another benefit of 450MHz is signal deep penetration. This is important in industrial sectors because they use a lot of material that is hard to penetrate, I mean the signal can reach indoor even at a distance from the tower.
Applications of 450 MHz
450MHz network includes data, voice and remote monitoring.
Utility can benefit from 450MHz network. They can use 450MHz for smart meters, smart city sensors like weather stations and electrical vehicle charging stations.
For factories IoT applications might use 450MHz because of deep signal penetration. Because IoT applications are in nature battery powered and need to save battery as much as possible, so when you have good coverage indoor and good signal penetration, you do not need to send repeated signals and waste energy/battery.
Transportation can use 450MHz like in railways, shipping and logistics and even in agriculture.
However the most needed application is the mission critical communication. Industrial sector need push to talk devices in order to have smother operations and enable employees to communicate with each other quickly. Wide reach and signal deep penetration makes 450MHz network a good option for industrial sector.
Aramco digital Company Won the Frequency
This section was written based on a report published by CST on February 20th, 2024.
Currently in Saudi Arabia, we have around 200,000 users and 150 licensees in the 400s MHz spectrum. Oil and gas sector are occupying 30% of the users and rest are spread between education, utilities, healthcare, municipalities, transport, tourism, manufacturing and construction. Also we see 63% of users, use the 400s MHz spectrum for voice and 32% for text messaging and 5% for data.
CST intends to make 450MHz network attractive enough for the existing private network users to migrate to 450MHz network gradually. That is why CST is taking steps to that direction, like mandating the 450MHz license holder to make the service 99.9% available, submit annual reports of plans and coverage, provide the service to new users in timely manner and many more requirements.
In June 7th, 2024 CST announced that Aramco Digital was awarded the 450MHz frequency. Also in March 13th, 2024 450 alliance announced that Aramco joined as a member. 450 alliance believe that Aramco will be a huge contributor to the development of this network.
I hope to see CST achieve its goal with this frequency award which is to digitize industrial sector and enable its users to take advantage of the new frequency and
