Saudi Gaming Latency Improves 89%, IoT Hits 13.85M

Saudi Arabia has recorded an 89% improvement in latency, or ping, for the most popular online games compared with earlier measurements, according to the fifth edition of the national "Saudi Internet" report issued in August 2026. In parallel, the Kingdom's Internet of Things (IoT) sector reached 13.85 million subscriptions nationwide.

Measured latency for specific titles now reaches 11 milliseconds for Teamfight Tactics, 11 milliseconds for League of Legends, and 12 milliseconds for Mobile Legends. The gains are linked to enhanced telecom network performance and infrastructure upgrades across the Kingdom's fixed and mobile broadband networks.

On the IoT side, narrowband (NB-IoT) coverage in urban areas now reaches around 99% of the population, supported by more than 30,000 network towers. These subscriptions cover applications including smart meters, surveillance and tracking systems, logistics, and smart city services.

Why it matters

National quality monitoring for online gaming is carried out through periodic GameMode and "Saudi Internet" reports, which evaluate download speeds and latency across major platforms such as STEAM, PlayStation, Xbox, and leading PC and mobile titles. Recent reports for 2024–2025 show continuous multi-year improvement, with reported increases of 85% for the second quarter of 2024 against the same period in 2023, and 88% for the fourth quarter of 2024 against 2023, along with further quarterly gains of 19% and 43% during 2025.

For residents and expats, lower latency means smoother competitive and casual gaming, while wider IoT coverage supports the growing rollout of smart utilities and connected services across cities. The figures describe overall network performance and market size rather than any individual paid government e-service, and no user fees are attached to them.

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