The Middle East has become a world-class pioneer in smart cites, but Saudi Arabia's NEOM is unlike any other and has an ambitious vision to re-engineer how we think about human living.
TowerXchange spoke with Mansoor Hanif, Executive Director Emerging Technologies at NEOM, about the megaproject and how NEOM hopes to accelerate Saudi Arabia’s position in the world as a leading industry 4.0 hub.
What is NEOM?
Located in the Tabuk province of north-west Saudi Arabia, “NEOM is designed to accelerate human progress across domains” explains Mansoor. “We have 15 sectors working across all of these domains, each responsible for building their vertical ecosystems”.
NEOM is one of the key engines his highness Mohammed Bin Salman has created under Vision 2030 to accelerate the country’s economy and development with the megaproject expected to create generate over 10,000 jobs and add SAR 3bn to the kingdom’s GDP by 2030.
NEOM will be a semi-autonomous region around the size of Belgium where 95% of the space will be an environmental protection zone including a massive re-greening effort, with the other 5% containing several urban developments.
There are various projects under the NEOM belt but four key developments have been announced and are underway; Sindalah, Trojena, Oxagon and The LINE.
“Technology one of our key pillars in order to accelerate human projects” says Mansoor “and both sustainability and technology will be core facets of the future of human living”.
NEOM has outlined several technological fields that will require significant scaling of digital and connectivity infrastructure including secure 5G hyperconnectivity, data centres, AI & advanced robotics, and virtual reality.
The projects under NEOM
Trojena is a mountain resort focused on mountain tourism located 50km from the gulf of Aqaba with elevations of 1,500m to 2,600m and covering around 60 squared kilometres. The Development is set to complete in 2026 and will feature properties, hotels, retail and leisure facilities as well as outdoor activities including skiing, being the host of the 2029 Asian Olympic games.
Trojena expects to attract 700,000 visitors and 7,000 permanent residents by 2030, becoming another revenue stream to support Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification away from natural resources.
Combining new industry 4.0 approaches and the circular economy, Oxagon is an "industrial city focused on clean manufacturing floating on the red sea”. With a fully automated next-generation port and integrated into a physical and digital supply chain, Oxagon plans to redefine the worlds approach to industrial development.
The project will also contribute to Saudi Arabia’s regional trade and commerce, expecting to create 70,000 jobs and house a population of 90,000 by 2030.
Sindalah is the most recent development focused on island development with the resort featuring a beach club, yacht club, spa and wellness centre in addition to 51 retail outlets, three luxury hotels and a large marina. The first of 43 islands are open for tourism and around 2,400 visitors are expected to visit per day by 2028.
Finally, there is The LINE, which attracted a lot of attention when announced last year due to its revolutionary urban city design. Only 200m wide but 170km long and standing 500 meters above sea level, The LINE will accommodate 9 million people on a geographical footprint of just 34 square kilometers.
Internal facilities are designed so that residents have access to everything they need within a 5-minute walk, meaning no roads or cars; just a high-speed rail with an end-to-end transit of 20 minutes. This reduced infrastructure footprint creates revolutionary efficiencies in city functions and will be entirely carbon-neutral.
How will connectivity infrastructure need to be reshaped
Mansoor highlights three main areas that telecoms infrastructure providers will need to consider. Firstly, the attractiveness of sights which “has to be completed blended into each region’s design and be completely invisible”.
The second is maximising the utility of sites with smart towers offering additional services such as edge data centres, charging ports and drone docks to maximise efficiency. The third is a dense network design to deliver the high capacity 5G networks which will need to be carefully embedded into the architecture.
“NEOM is not like other smart cities; it has a very particular plan and design. The LINE is a real challenge due to its unusual dimensions. We need to embed telecoms infrastructure to integrate seamlessly into the design to both deliver a secure 5G service while remaining unnoticeable. Smart cities should look at NEOM as a lab for the future of living and how the smart infrastructure will need to be integrated.”
NEOM is also a carbon-zero project and clean energy is another core pillar the megaproject. In order to achieve 100% renewable energy each project is utilizing an array of solar, wind and alternative energy sources including the world's largest hydrogen power plant.
Not only does the energy need to be clean but its usage efficient, meaning the implementation of smart energy grids using AI and digital tools to maximise efficiency wherever possible. “In our 100% renewable environment we will be pushing partners to deploy best-of-class sustainability solutions” says Mansoor.
How is NEOM working with infrastructure providers to build these networks
Of the 15 sectors in NEOM one of these is focused on building the cognitive infrastructure and designing the technology ecosystems which been rebranded as Tonomus. “Energy, water and food ecosystems have also been spun off into a separate entity, and more will follow. NEOM was one company but is now being segmented into specific focused verticals”. Tonomus is the first of these subsidiaries and will run a single wholesale network including fibre, satellite and subsea cable infrastructure.
“We will work with urban design and master planners who themselves have their own telecoms infrastructure consultants to advise them on where the connectivity infrastructure would go. This is being designed and implemented by our technology spin-off Tonomous, as well as coordinating with telecom operators. Tonomous is inviting retailers to build their network off the back of this and has started to sign on with suppliers. We have a contract with stc group on 4G and 5G and have also sourced two subsea cables.”
In terms of the ownership model this remains unclear, but there appears to be opportunity for infrastructure provider to do more than build-to-suit. “Tonomous is still going through their business model as to whether they want to invest and manage the infrastructure on their own or work with a partner. On the retail side is where they expect the operators to come in and have had some conversations with MNOs about managing the network alongside Tonomus”.
