Saudi Telecom Company (STC)

STC logo

Country/Region

Company Name

Saudi Telecom Company SJSC

Ownership Type

Publicly Traded Company

Ownership/Controlling Entity

MNC

01

3G UMTS Frequency Bands

5G NR Frequency Bands

IoT Technology

Company Overview

Saudi Telecom Company (STC) (شركة الاتصالات السعودية) is a telecommunications company operating in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The STC was established as a Saudi Joint Stock Company April 21st, 1998. The decree authorised the transfer of the Telegraph and Telephone Division of the Ministry of Post Telegraph and Telephone (MoPTT), hereinafter referred to as ‘Telecom Sector’, with its various components and technical and administrative facilities to the company, which approved the Company’s Articles of Association.

The company began operating 2G GSM mobile services in 1996, and 3G UMTS services over B1 (2100 MHz) in June 2006 under the brand Al Jawal. 3G services were upgraded to HSPA+ in September 2009 and again to DC-HSPA+ in December 2010. B8 (900 MHz) was implemented in 2011.

4G LTE was first implemented in September 2011 over B40 (2300 MHz) and later introducing B3 (1800 MHz) in February 2013. The network was upgraded to LTE-Advanced in February 2014 with the commercial activation of TDD CA_40C using two 20 MHz B40 channels. FDD-TDD aggregation was achieved in December 2014 (CA_3A-40A). 

In December 2015 STC confirmed successful testing of LTE-A Pro achieving peak data rates of 1.59 Gbps. STC and Nokia tested MulteFire technology (LTE-U) in May 2016. LTE-A Pro was commercially activated October 2016, leveraging carrier aggregation technology (assumed to be 3C CA_3A-40C).

STC 5G

STC has been a regional leader in development of 5G since early 2017 and has become one of the first to deploy a functional 5G NR network. In May 2018 STC implemented n78 (3500 MHz) 5G using a 100 MHz channel. The company intends to deploy n77 (3700 MHz) throughout 2019. In March 2019 STC and Huawei demonstrated indoor n78 (3500 MHz) 5G performance, clocking 1.3 Gbps.

STC IoT

STC announced the intention to deploy an NB-IoT network in partnership with Ericsson in March 2018. The deployment leverages B12 (700 MHz) spectrum acquired earlier the same year.

3G UMTS Network Information

Details on UMTS network deployments are shown below. Data are often incomplete due to commercial nature. Consult dossier text for further details.

Launch Date 2006-06 Status Active
UMTS BandPacket DataStatus
Active
Active
4G LTE Network Information

Details on LTE network deployments are shown below. Data are often incomplete due to commercial nature. Consult dossier text for further details.

Evolution Status Active [Launched 2011-09]
Max. MIMO Max. Modulation
Carrier Aggregation Features
LTE BandChannel WidthStatus
10 MHz Active
15 MHz Active
15 MHz Active
20 MHz Active
5G NR Network Information

Details on 5G NR network deployments are shown below. Data are often incomplete due to commercial nature. Consult dossier text for further details.

Type Status Active [Launched 2018-05-15]
Max. MIMO Max. Modulation
Carrier Aggregation - Features -
NR BandChannel WidthStatus
100 MHz Active
IoT Network - NB-IoT (LTE Cat-NB1)
Technology Status Active
Band Launch Date