RIYADH – The Communication and Information Technology Commission's Governor (CITC) Abdullah Al-Dharrab examined STC's readiness and preparations for this year's Haj season. The governor was accompanied by STC Group CEO Khaled Al Ghoneim in the tour that assessed STC's network readiness to serve pilgrims. The visit included a tour of STC's premises and operations in Makkah and the Haj ritual sites, to ensure the company's readiness to provide accommodation for the Haj season and to fulfill the pilgrims' needs to the highest standards of quality, by committing all efforts to serve pilgrims and facilitating their Haj rituals; as STC had increased network capacity in Makkah, Haj ritual sites, and Madinah to accommodate more than 26 million mobile users, and increased the number of Jawwal towers to 2676 base stations, while providing technical solutions supported by fiber optic and high-speed 4G networks to the city's accomplished projects, such as the “Jamaraat Bridge”, “Haramain High Speed Rail”, and “Mina Towers” projects, greatly facilitating pilgrims' voice-calling traffic, during the stoning ritual and in their various travels between the Haram and the Hajj ritual sites. STC also provided the WiFi service in Haj ritual sites in Mina, to accommodate more customers and to enable them to browse the Internet at high speed using broadband technology. The company also expanded its network capacity to contain the surge of call traffic, and to further maintain smooth international calling traffic belonging to STC's network and that of other operators, as the company boosted the international link circles to more than 192,000 circles, distributed on 4 international servers. It is anticipated that this year will witness record numbers of call traffic, including millions of calls to and from Makkah and the Haj ritual sites, considering the increased number of pilgrims from Saudi Arabia and abroad, in addition to the completion of the massive infrastructure expansion projects that the Kingdom's government has accomplished. STC has employed all its capabilities to ensure a smooth pilgrim experience and to facilitate pilgrims' communication with their loved ones, by improving its network capabilities and increasing network capacity in Makkah, Madinah and the Hajj ritual sites, and by employing all its human and technical resources and experience to serve millions of pilgrims and to support public sector Haj operations. – SG
