Bahrain Mirror: Speaking about Ericsson and Huawei companies starting G5 service in Bahrain, Transportation and Telecommunications Minister Kamal Ahmed stressed that Bahrain is not worried about the spying of Chinese Huawei company on telecommunications in Bahrain.

He announced that preparations for the rollout of 5G networks in the Kingdom are complete and anticipates that G5 services will start in June 2019.

The minister said that the regulatory bodies in Bahrain are sure that "all companies have worked hard to experiment this technology and choose a partner in June, whenever mobile devices are available. The service will be commercially available from one of the largest providers of G5 services, namely, Ericsson and Huawei. Both companies will provide Fifth generation services in Bahrain."

"We have no concern at this stage as long as this technology is meeting our standards," Bahrain's Telecommunications Minister Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed answered when asked about U.S. concerns over Huawei technology.

One major benefit of G5 technology is enabling higher volume of data transmission at higher speeds. This in turn enables the development and implementation of technologies such as autonomous driving vehicles.

The minister explained in an interview with the Al-Arabiya Channel that Bahrain will be among the first states to provide this commercial services for G5, stressing that the operational experiments will be conducted by mid-April by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).

He pointed out that the commercial operators of the three companies "Batelco, Viva and Zain" will provide the commercial services that depend on G5 technology, as soon as the equipment and related technical equipment is available to consumers in June.

"The government's role is represented in addressing all regulatory matters, the allocated frequency as well as allowing the authorized companies to launch the service," the minister said, adding that the frequencies of the 3 companies will be allocated in the first week of April.

He explained that the government will also benefit, alongside the private sector and individuals, from the use of the vast speed of data and speed of processing, stressing that this development will help to create new types of systems for citizens, and will help us develop vital sectors such as transportation and the financial sector, and various applications that enhance the development system.

The global 5G services market is anticipated to grow from an estimated $60 billion in 2020 to an estimated $125 billion in 2025.

Arabic Version