RIYADH, 6 January 2006 — Mobile service provider Mobily announced yesterday that it completed its preparations for the annual Haj pilgrimage by installing more than 120 new base stations in and around the holy city of Makkah.
The expansion project is aimed at providing service to the increasing number of pilgrims who arrive each year with cellular phones. Mobily spokesman Humoud Al-Ghobaini said the company has agreements with 205 mobile operators worldwide, which allow subscribers from abroad to send and receive cellular communications while they are in the Kingdom.
“Those base stations, which work independent of the other operator’s network, will serve 1.45 million mobile users at the same time,” said Ghobaini.
The stations have been erected in the areas of Arafat, Muzdalifa and Mina to provide service to the estimated 1.5 million Haj pilgrims who will arrive this year from abroad.
Mobily has been working with Swedish telecom company Ericsson since July to install the technology in Makkah and Madinah. Mobily serves about 2.2 million subscribers in Saudi Arabia.
