The Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and
the Communications and Information Technology Commission will provide 2
million GB of data for the 2 million Hajj pilgrims this year.
An
official statement said that the initiative was in accordance with the
directives of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin
Abdulaziz and HH the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “to do everything
possible to make it easy for pilgrims to perform the rituals of Hajj”.
The free data is for those who have opted to use packages Sawa Ziyara, AlZowar, Noor, Hajj & Umrah and Iman — provided by the mobile operators Saudi Telecom, Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), Mobile Telecommunication
Company Saudi Arabia (Zain), Virgin Mobile, and Etihad Jawraa (Lebara).
Each
subscriber will have access to 1 GB for 48 hours. The initiative
intends to allow pilgrims to communicate with their families and enable
them to access the digital services available in the Smart Hajj initiative in order to enhance their experience and allow them to take advantage of enhanced communication services.
“This
initiative is just one of the efforts of the Ministry of Communications
and Information Technology, the Communications and Information
Technology Commission and all mobile service providers in the Kingdom to
provide the best communication services to pilgrims during this
pilgrimage season,” the organisations said.
Hajj runs from August 19 to August 24.