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The school developed the Business Success program in consultation with business leaders across the country. The goal is to help business students address skill gaps and become more competitive in the job market.

“The program should set our students apart from the competition and provide additional certification that our students are ‘business ready,’” said Ken Cyree, dean of the School of Business Administration. “We greatly appreciate our alumni and business partners in helping us tailor the program and teach the courses so our students will maximize their chances for success.”

The first workshop, on Sept. 23, drew some 30 students and focused on critical thinking. Bill Fry, an Ole Miss alumnus and managing director of American Securities Capital, led the session and used examples from his journey to define critical thinking.

“The Business Success meeting on critical thinking really challenged me to think more intentionally about how I approach problems both inside and outside the classroom,” said Sophia Honnald, a junior marketing major from Rumson, New Jersey, who is minoring in entrepreneurship. “It was engaging to hear different perspectives from peers and faculty on how critical thinking plays such a major role in business decision-making.”

The program began with an idea from Ole Miss graduates and retired businessmen Bill Andrews and Jeff Rogers, both Oxford residents. The two former Business Advisory Board members pitched the idea to Cyree to help students complete their skill sets and begin networking while still in school.

“The students’ opportunity to learn, interact and connect with industry leaders is a unique and valuable part of Business Success,” Rogers said. “Relationships matter, and the students have the opportunity to establish special relationships to guide them in their career.”

Andrews and Rogers interviewed 20 industry leaders about areas where students could differentiate themselves from their competition in the job market and to brainstorm workshop programming ideas. They developed four test modules and offered them to students last spring, earning positive feedback from both students and industry leaders.

Cyree approved the program for eight modules in the 2025-26 academic year. These modules cover topics including communication skills, business etiquette and critical thinking. Students who attend six of the eight modules earn a certificate of acknowledgement.

The second Business Success module is set for Oct. 14 in the Jackson Avenue Center. This workshop focuses on building communication skills and will be led by Sparky Reardon, former UM dean of students.

The program continues through the spring:

• 28 – Business Etiquette
• 11 – Real-World Problems
• 18 – Real World Problems
• 3 – Critical Thinking
• 17 – Thinking Like an Owner
• March 3 – Discovering Your Passion Celebration Dinner.

All sessions run from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Jackson Avenue Center, Room 103.

“The sign-up for the Business Success certificate program is verifying that Dean Cyree was 100% on target with his vision for what it would do for Ole Miss business school students,” Andrews said. “Ole Miss students will begin their careers with a clear understanding of the traits that will propel them to the top of their chosen field.”

To register or learn more about a Business Success session, contact Bailey Bracken at bobracke@olemiss.edu.

Top: Bill Fry, a 1980 alumnus of the School of Business Administration, shares experiences from his career during the first workshop of the new Business Success program. Fry, of Bluffton, South Carolina, is a member of the school’s Hall of Fame with a service award for his numerous contributions. Photo by Frank Estrada/School of Business Administration

Airports in the Gulf region and Türkiye have experienced a surge in air passenger traffic. As they compete to be key transit hubs and main tourist and business destinations, high-performance Wi-Fi networks have become increasingly important in shaping the overall passenger experience. We use Speedtest Intelligence® data to evaluate the Wi-Fi performance of the busiest airports in the region between January and August 2025. These insights help to inform travelers where they are more likely to have the best online experience while transiting through an airport in the region or waiting at a lounge to embark on an outbound flight. 

Key Takeaways:

• King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh (RUH) achieves top-tier public Wi-Fi download speeds of over 86 Mbps. Wi-Fi performance in airports across the Gulf region and Türkiye varies significantly, with RUH offering strong public Wi-Fi speeds ahead of Hamad International Airport in Doha (DOH) and Dubai International Airport (DXB). Kuwait International Airport (KWI) and Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi (AUH) fall in the mid-range of download speeds, and the two airports in Istanbul, IST and Sabiha Gokcen (SAW), lag considerably. 
• Very few airport lounges provide superior Wi-Fi performance compared to the general public airport networks. The fastest lounges, such as those in IST and DXB, exhibit a substantial increase in download speeds, 5X for the former and 2X for the latter, compared to public airport Wi-Fi. Top lounges in other airports, such as at RUH and Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi (AUH), offer more modest speed gains. Without the ability to demonstrate superior Wi-Fi performance, lounge operators are missing out on a point of differentiation to add to comfort and other amenities.
• Wi-Fi performance differs greatly between lounges, even within the same airport. This suggests that the specific lounge operator plays a crucial role in determining the quality of the Wi-Fi experience. For instance, in Riyadh (RUH), the Al Fursan lounge significantly outperforms the Plaza Premium and HAYYAK lounges. Similarly, in Dubai (DXB), the Marhaba lounge boasts much faster speeds than the Emirates (EK) lounge or the DIH lounge. Lounge operators must address these performance gaps to remain competitive, attract high-value customers, and enhance guest experience and satisfaction.

Wi-Fi performance varies significantly across Middle East and Türkiye airports

Airline passengers today expect seamless connectivity, from check-in to landing. That is why airport operators need to understand how passengers (and staff) access the internet throughout the venue, and ensure their infrastructure meets their connectivity needs. 

In January 2025, Ookla® analyzed the cellular performance at the busiest airport in the Gulf region and Türkiye. We found that Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport (AUH) achieved top-tier median mobile download speeds of over ​​450 Mbps. In comparison, Istanbul Airport (IST) significantly leads in 5G performance, with download and upload speeds of 861.98 Mbps and 101.96 Mbps, respectively.

This time, we used Speedtest Intelligence data to understand whether the public Wi-Fi networks and lounges of the nine busiest airports in the Middle East and Türkiye deliver the kind of internet experience travelers expect—whether that’s for streaming, video calls, or quick file uploads. We compared median Wi-Fi download and upload speeds at each location over a period of eight months (January to August 2025).

Ookla’s data shows that Wi-Fi performance varies greatly from airport to airport. King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh (RUH) has the highest download speed at 86.34 Mbps, placing it at the top of the list, while its upload speed is a more moderate 25.48 Mbps. In contrast, Hamad International Airport in Doha (DOH) and Dubai International Airport (DXB) demonstrate high upload speeds; Dubai leads with 101.86 Mbps, and Doha follows closely at 96.45 Mbps. DXB and DOH also stand out because they are the only two airports where upload speed is higher than download speed.

The two airports in Istanbul, IST and Sabiha Gokcen (SAW), generally have the lowest speeds. IST has a download speed of 22.65 Mbps and an upload speed of 22.20 Mbps, while SAW ranks at the bottom for both metrics, with a download speed of 9.69 Mbps and an upload speed of 9.52 Mbps.

Other airports, like Kuwait International Airport (KWI) and Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi (AUH), fall in the mid-range for download and upload speeds. At the same time, Sharjah International Airport (SHJ) and Muscat International Airport (MCT) show slower, sub-30 Mbps download speeds.

A few airport lounges offer better Wi-Fi performance than public airport networks, but the majority need improvements 

Good Wi-Fi in airport lounges is essential for enhancing the travel experience, especially as their popularity grows. With more travelers seeking comfort and productivity during layovers, the demand for reliable internet access has never been higher.

Airport and airline companies position lounges as distinctive features to cater to the needs of business travelers, families, and leisure travelers. A survey by Airport Dimensions revealed that lounge users enjoy the airport more than non-users. Lounge visits are common among frequent travelers in the Middle East, with 66% of those in the U.A.E. and 60% in Saudi Arabia utilizing lounges during their trips. This trend is driven by various factors, including the desire for a more comfortable environment and the availability of amenities, but also the increasing number of financial institutions that incorporate premium travel-related benefits such as lounge access into their loyalty strategies. 

Lounges typically offer dedicated and faster Wi-Fi than the general airport network, making them an attractive option for business travelers and those looking to maximize productivity. Hamad International Airport in Doha is the exception where a single public Wi-Fi network is deployed and accessible to everyone, including inside the lounges. 

We used Speedtest Intelligence data again to examine the download speed that is typically experienced at different airport lounges, and we selected the venues with the highest number of samples, indicating more popularity. Note that we have excluded Kuwait International Airport (KWI) or Sharjah International Airport (SHJ), as there were no Speedtest samples captured that were associated with lounges in these two locations. We have also aggregated samples from different lounges within the same airport that share the same Wi-Fi Service Set Identifier (SSID). 

Ookla data suggests that the fastest lounge’s Wi-Fi performance in all airports is superior to that of the general public Wi-Fi network. The most dramatic difference is at Istanbul Airport (IST), where the YOTEL lounge Wi-Fi clocks in at 119.46 Mbps, while the public Wi-Fi lags far behind at 22.65 Mbps. Similarly, airports in Riyadh (RUH) and Dubai (DXB) show substantial advantages for Saudia’ Al Fursan and Marhaba lounge users over the free public Wi-Fi, with lounge speeds reaching 120.5 Mbps and 101.98 Mbps, respectively.

The Pearl Lounge in Abu Dhabi Airport (AUH) shows the smallest speed increase over the free Wi-Fi network. At the other end of the spectrum, Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport (SAW) recorded the slowest speeds for lounge Wi-Fi at 25.8 Mbps, lagging the other airports in public Wi-Fi ranking.

Wi-Fi performance across lounges in the same airport exhibits strong variation, emphasizing that the choice of a lounge could be a critical factor for travelers needing a fast internet connection. In Riyadh’s RUH, the Al Fursan lounge delivers a fast median download speed of 120.5 Mbps, contrasting strongly with Plaza Premium and HAYYAK lounges in the same airport, which offer sub-22 Mbps speeds. A similar, though less extreme disparity can be observed in Istanbul Airport (IST), where YOTEL lounges provide a download speed that is more than double that of the iGA lounge at 48.32 Mbps. 

Dubai International Airport (DXB) is another example of substantial intra-airport variability. While Marhaba lounge boasts a speed of nearly 101.98 Mbps, airline Emirates’s (EK) lounges provided slower download speeds of just over 60 Mbps. The Dubai International Hotel (DIH) lounge offers a mere 29.16 Mbps download speed at the same location.

Airports like Abu Dhabi (AUH) and Muscat (MCT) exhibit more consistent, albeit moderate, speeds across their lounge offerings in the 40-55 Mbps range; still, it is faster than the public airport Wi-Fi. The Plaza Premium Lounge in Istanbul (SAW) offers slightly better Wi-Fi than the public Wi-Fi but still lags behind the other lounges, except its sister lounge in Abu Dhabi.

The surge in air passenger traffic and growing demand for seamless connectivity underscore a critical need for airport operators and lounge managers to prioritize and invest in their Wi-Fi infrastructure to enhance their overall experience and gain a competitive edge. Our analysis of the busiest airports in the Gulf region and Türkiye shows that while some locations offer high-performance Wi-Fi networks, the variability in speeds across different venues and even within the same airport’s lounges highlights significant opportunities for improvement. 

Airport authorities and lounge operators must actively monitor and enhance their Wi-Fi capabilities to meet and exceed traveler expectations and differentiate their offerings in a competitive market. By doing so, they can unlock new growth opportunities, improve customer loyalty, and strengthen their position as major global travel hubs.

Please contact us for more details on how tools such as Speedtest Intelligence can help provide actionable insights into network performance and become Speedtest Certified™ to publicly demonstrate your commitment to delivering top-tier internet experiences for every traveler. 

Ookla retains ownership of this article including all of the intellectual property rights, data, content graphs and analysis. This article may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed or published for any commercial purpose without prior consent. Members of the press and others using the findings in this article for non-commercial purposes are welcome to publicly share and link to report information with attribution to Ookla.

About the Author

Karim Yaici

Karim Yaici is the Lead Industry Analyst at Ookla covering the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. Previously, he directed Analysys Mason’s MEA research program, where he was responsible for telecoms forecasts, market reports, consumer surveys, and custom research.