Aramco Digital secured approval to obtain a specialised radio network licence serving Saudi Arabia’s industrial and business sectors, clearing the company’s path to launch digitalisation services.

The country’s Communications, Space and Technology Commission announced the award, stating the company had completed necessary regulatory procedures.

A specialised radio network is defined by the commission as one that services the industrial and business sectors independently from mobile networks, operating on the latest mobile technologies and catering to the specialised needs of various sectors including energy, transport and healthcare.

As previously announced, the company will be using 450MHz spectrum to offer its services and has already inked a Memorandum of Understand with Qualcomm to develop the industrial 4G, 5G and non-terrestrial networks ecosystem across the country.

In a post on LinkedIn, CEO Tareq Amin said Aramco Digital will now move to deploy a mission critical mobile network, as well as creating a horizontal telco cloud for a cloud native deployment.

Aside from providing connectivity services, Amin explained the company was focused on digitalisation use cases across various industries in Saudi Arabia, offered through its digital marketplace dubbed Nawat.

Amin said Nawat aims to foster the creation of a large and open ecosystem of enterprises, independent software vendors, application providers and developers.

Saudi oil giant Aramco launched its digital arm in 2023 and announced the appointment of former Rakuten Symphony boss Amin to head up the company shortly after.

At MWC Barcelona 2024, Amin outlined a vision for the company to develop software, platforms and push a private 5G play, rather than enter the consumer mobile segment in the traditional way.