The Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) revealed on Monday that the data consumption in Makkah and the holy sites had hit 4,601 terabytes or the equivalent of 1.89 million hours of 1080p videos. In its latest statistics, the commission said that the average individual Internet data usage had reached 785MB daily, nearly three times exceeding the international average of data usage per person, which is 270MB. The commission said that the average speed for mobile internet download and upload had reached 197.5MB per second and 27.5MB per second, respectively, which proves the ability of the Kingdom's infrastructure to meet the ambitions of the pilgrims and facilitate their communications with their families while performing the Hajj rituals. The statistics revealed that the pilgrims' most visited websites were YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook. The CST highlighted the completion of the telecommunication systems to serve pilgrims performing this year's Hajj. The commission said the service providers installed more than 6,000 communication towers in Makkah, Madinah, and the holy sites to serve pilgrims, marking a 74 percent increase, in addition to increasing the number of fifth-generation (5G) towers by 1,205 percent to more than 2,900 towers and providing more than 10,500 WI-FI access points in Makkah, Madinah, and the holy sites, which is an increase of 118 percent. The commission said the infrastructure preparations were doubled for this year's Hajj to cope with the return of the number of pilgrims to pre-pandemic levels. — SPA
