stc Group and Huawei Complete World’s First Commercial MB² Microwave Deployment in Saudi Arabia
RIYADH — stc Group, the leading digital enabler in Saudi Arabia, in partnership with Huawei, has announced the completion of the world’s first commercial deployment of the Multi-Band Multi-Beam (MB²) microwave transmission solution across the Kingdom.
The deployment addresses backhaul bottlenecks driven by the rapid expansion of 5G networks and surging mobile data traffic across Saudi Arabia. By consolidating complex multi-directional transmission paths into a single ultra-wideband unit, a single MB² antenna covers eight frequency bands (13 GHz, 15 GHz, 18 GHz, 23 GHz, 26 GHz, 28 GHz, 32 GHz, and 38 GHz) and supports up to 10 concurrent microwave beams.
This architecture delivers immediate operational and commercial benefits:
90% Antenna Reduction: Slashes the required antenna count on telecommunications towers by up to 90%, significantly freeing up tower space, easing physical load constraints, and reducing monthly site leasing expenditures.
Rapid Link Alignment: During initial deployment across three transmission directions, the second and third links were completed in 20 minutes each after the primary link was established, down from the industry standard of approximately three hours per link with conventional microwave setups.
Harsh Climate Resilience: Transmission links maintained stable, continuous operations under extreme desert environmental conditions, including ambient temperatures reaching 50°C and high-velocity wind loads.
Scalable On-Demand Capacity: Allows operators to activate up to 10 transmission directions dynamically at high-density 5G sites without requiring additional hardware installations or civil structural modifications.
The deployment marks a technical milestone in microwave transmission, optimizing the total cost of ownership (TCO) for mobile network infrastructure while advancing the high-capacity digital connectivity objectives of Saudi Vision 2030.
