Saudi Telecom Company (STC) is continuing with its preparations for serving pilgrims of this year’s Haj season. It has raised the capacity of mobile networks at the holy sites in Makkah and Madinah to serve more than 31 million mobile service users.

It also has added a number of fixed towers along with its efforts to enhance network technologies and expand their channels. These are meant to improve quality and augment capacities, and support the networks with mobile stations equipped with high capacities and speeds to serve roads and pedestrian routes.

STC has developed operational and preventive plans to provide safe solutions to avoid service outages or deterioration based on approved emergency and field plans.

It proceeds with maintenance works and service restoration plans by tracking the preparations of emergency rooms and field teams and their geographical deployment to respond quickly when needed.

STC has also given the final developmental touches to its “My Pilgrimage” application to assist customers during this year’s Haj. With this application, pilgrims can perform this duty with ease and comfort by virtue of the services and important features of this program like news follow-ups, weather information updates, prayer times and scholar advisory opinions on Haj matters.

The application is the bilingual (Arabic/English) companion of pilgrims in their journey to the holy mosque and supports all cell phones. It contains step-by-step rules and rituals of Haj and Umrah with guiding illustration.

It includes advisory opinions and selected proverbs about Haj by a selected group of scholars as well as a complete guide of guiding numbers that concern every pilgrim in Makkah and the neighboring areas.

The application also features complete maps of Makkah and major cities in addition to the feature of route finding and tracking that helps lost pilgrims.

To get the link of My Pilgrimage application, the customer should send the code 1000 in a text message to 5000 or log into this link from his mobile: www.stc.islam.mobi. The application involves a one time cost of SR10.