Mobily spreads WiMax coverage to 5 northern, eastern cities in KSA

The company said that by successfully concluding all its tests on the network to ascertain its readiness, the company marked the beginning of the second phase of Mobily's WiMax expansion.

Mobily had already spread the service all over the major cities of Riyadh, Jeddah, Khobar, Dammam, Hafuf and Al-Mobarraz.

Mobily's expansion comes at a time of runaway demand for the company's wireless broadband services, thus necessitating higher bandwidth. Also, the portability and plug-and-play capability of Mobily's wireless routers necessitates that the service is available in as many locations as possible, because users want to take their routers with them and get online anywhere they want.

Enigneer Abdulaziz Altamami, Mobily's Acting Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operations Officer, said that the company plans to blanket the Kingdom with WiMax coverage.

He added that the company is enhancing the service and increasing bandwidth in areas already covered.

Altamami said that spreading WiMax is the normal course of action of global telecommunications companies, rendering subterranean networks obsolete because they require huge costs and effort and confine the service to certain locations.

Mobily had announced on Saturday that it had spread the service to more districts in Riyadh. Mobily's website features a map of covered areas in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Khobar.

Bayanat has also a promotion on the 512-kbps speed that enables subscribers to get a WiFi modem and three months' subscription.