Yesterday CITRA launched new mobile network frequencies in Kuwait which will be used for the upcoming 5G Advanced network (also called 5GA or 5.5G). 5G Advanced has a number of benefits over regular 5G with the main ones being:
- Faster Speeds
- Enhanced Coverage
- Increased Reliability
- Lower Power Consumption
- More accurate device positioning
From my understanding (someone correct me if I’m wrong), 5G and 5G Advanced have the same max speed, but 5G Advanced has the ability to achieve +20% faster speeds more often (for example during peak hours or network congestion).
According to CITRA, 5G Advanced should be available in Kuwait by maximum June 2025. If you want to try it out they have a demo display for the next couple of days at Al Hamra Tower.
21 replies on “Faster 5.5G Internet Launching in Kuwait”
5G is like a new high-speed highway, allowing more cars (devices) to travel faster and more efficiently, perfect for streaming, gaming, and IoT. 5G-Advanced is the upgraded version, adding more lanes (higher capacity), smart traffic management (AI-driven efficiency), and specialized lanes (optimized communication) for even better performance. It’s not just faster, but smarter and more capable of handling the growing demands of modern technology.
That’s a nice easy to understand explanation!
will the ping decrease as of now 5G NSA has very high jitter and packet delay and the ping for the download and upload is usually around 500 does this mean 1-10 ms latency and lower Download and upload latency
June 2025!?
So basically Zain just ripped us all off by buying their “black edition 5.5G-ready router”.
How did you get ripped off? A 5.5G ready router like 8K TV’s mean when the technology arrives you’re set and don’t need to upgrade. The issue isn’t with Zain, it’s with your misunderstanding of what 5.5G ready means.
I think the router was released on April or May 2024 with a price tag of 15 KD per month for 24 months with a promise that 5.5G service is “coming soon”.
Though later revealed that their other Huawei (branded Brovi or Zowee) router is already 5.5G ready, selling at a price of 12 KD per month.
So, it is not an investment as you mentioned in your “8K TV” example.
And I don’t think it is “misunderstanding” from my side rather it is a “misleading” information from their side.
I didn’t say it was an investment, I said they didn’t rip you off by saying 5.5G ready because it’s true. 5.5G coming soon also isn’t a lie unless they never launch it. So like i said, you’re misreading things.
I’ve seen nearly the exact same sales pitch for these G speeds before, I remember when 4G was considered the fastest internet speed; how much more faster can it get now?! 😓
I remember when 56K was considered the fastest, I also remember the first time I heard about 128K ISDN connections 🤯
mostly showoff, i lost trust with internet in Kuwait, my 400mb fiber gives me 3mb download 🙂 and tech support till now have no clue how to solve it. and telecoms routers been more negative than positive. so not sure why would i step up to 5ga when i still live in 3g era
you can’t complain about the internet speed when you’re not willing to upgrade to a faster connection. Kuwait actually has one of the fastest mobile internet connections in the world, so choosing to stick with your slow connection instead of upgrading to 5G is your decision and not the fault of the country.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/896768/countries-fastest-average-mobile-internet-speeds/
If you’re signed up to 400Mbps and you’re only getting 3Mbps that probably means you have some sort of issue with your fiber connection somewhere and the fact you’re still sticking to fiber even though you’re clearly aware there is an issue with it is again on you. A friend has a 1gig fiber connection and he gets 1.2Gbps on fast.com so fiber does work in Kuwait, just doesn’t happen to work for you.
I pay a third of what you’re paying (10KD a month for unlimited 5G) and I get between 400-600Mbps on fast.com
You’re right you know 5g are faster so far than fiber even cheaper so why you’re complaining about that ❗️ 🤡
how is your friend getting 1.2gbps is he in kuwait i have 5.5G black edition from zain and only got 160mbps from fast.com
5G should give you 400-600Mbps depending where you live. Friend is on fiber
Went down a bit of a rabbit hole trying to find out what phones will support this. Short answer: probably none that you would want. 5.5G was developed by Huawei, and therefore not allowed in so many countries because of the restrictions on China. I remember the US army at one point stating that they will not allow a country that hosts a US base to get Chinese 5G. So I am a bit surprised that this is available here (and from what I can see, Kuwait will be only the second country after China to have 5.5G).
https://www.gizmochina.com/2023/03/11/huawei-5-5g-development-trade-restrictions/
I don’t think 5.5G will offer much benefit to phones, its more for home internet use and Zain already sells 5.5G routers so thats where we will see the most benefits.
Kuwait is Huawei friendly.
I think that Kuwait upgrading their 5G is a must for broadband internet. The extreme lack of a wired broadband access like fiber optic, cable, or DSL will mean that 5G will be the option for most people to get home internet. I lived in Kuwait from 2013-2017 and back then we had VIVA 4G modems throughout our home since that was the only option for internet at home.
However, I do believe that for the sake of privacy and reliability of the 5G infrastructure, using Huawei is a bit of a let down. I also lived in China and their 5G service is horrendous, it says 5G everywhere, but speeds are more like 3G. Using a companies like Ericsson or Nokia may yield the best results in the long run and also keep the privacy of Kuwaitis out of the hands of the Chinese government.
and put it back into the hands of the NSA where it rightly belongs….
Why is everyone whining so much ? Be lucky you have fast a** internet speeds. Does the difference really mess up your 12 hours of social media scrolling ?
I come from a time we had to plug in our phone into a phone line in a wall, wait 30-60 seconds to connect & inshallah it works.
I come from a time where app’s didnt exist & got charged every incoming & outgoing minute.
Seriously be happy with the easy simple life you have today,
i wonder if the latency will be decreased since the jitter on 5G NSA is very high causing issues with packets delay is there any specific detail on the latency
from what I read it should, be theory doesn’t always translate to reality