Digital Reach

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SAUDI A RABIA SHARES the world aspirations to build a people-
centered, development-oriented information society. Saudi
Arabia is a large country with an area of 2.4 million km2
and a population of around 23.4 million; GDP per capita was
estimated to reach USD13 600 in 2005. Over the last few years,
Saudi Arabia has made remarkable progress in different
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) fields includ-
ing connectivity and access, sector reforms, national IT initiatives
and e-services.
From 2000 to 2004, there has been remarkable growth in all
major ICT indicators in Saudi Arabia; most notably mobile
subscribers with a cumulative annual growth rate (CAGR) of 58.6
per cent (more than twice the world CAGR of 23.4 per cent), with
subscribers approaching 12 million as of October 2005 (over 50
per cent penetration). Internet users grew by over 430 per cent
in four years, amounting to a CAGR of 44.4 per cent, (vs. world
growth rate of 27.4 per cent); Internet users are exceeding 2.5
million. Personal computer penetration has also grown 40 per
cent annually (vs. the world growth rate of 9 per cent) to around
a 16 per cent penetration. Fixed mainland telephones are
approaching 4 million lines, a tele-density of 17 per cent. Internet
international bandwidth capacity has increased by nearly seven
times in four years to over 1 800 megabytes per second.
In terms of e-government readiness (which include ICT infra-
structure and other metrics), the UN Global E-Government
Readiness Report has moved Saudi Arabia’s ranking from 105 in
2003 to 90 in 2004, a jump of 15 places in one year.
Saudi Arabia has adopted a multi-phase plan to restructure the
ICT sector. To date, four phases have been implemented. The first
phase, entitled corporatization, specified that the responsibility
for the provision of telecom services was transferred from the
Ministry of Post, Telegraph and Telephone (PTT) to a state-owned
company, incorporated in 1989 as Saudi Telecom Company (STC).
The second phase, policy and regulatory reform, included the
June 2001 Telecommunications Act, which established the legal
framework to develop the telecommunications sector and autho-
rize the creation of a regulatory agency. An independent regulator,
Saudi Communications Commission (SCC) was established.
Recognizing the importance of an integrated ICT approach, the
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT)
was created in 2003 to replace the Ministry of PTT
. The mandate of the Regulator was extended
to include IT, and its name changed to Communications and
Information Technology Commission (CITC; .
The third phase concerned the partial privatization of the state-
owned STC, which was completed in early 2003, by divestiture
of a 30 per cent stake in the Company for the public.
The fourth phase, liberalization, began in September 2002 when
the Government announced a timetable for telecom sector liber-
alization – licensing a second mobile operator the fourth quarter
of 2004 and for fixed telephony services in 2006. In the period
2002-2004, the CITC adopted processes to introduce competi-
tion in the ICT sector. As a result, service provider licenses have
been issued to: the incumbent service provider, four additional
VSAT operators; a new mobile service provider (a GSM and a 3G
license), two additional data service providers, a GMPCS service
provider, as well as a number of ISPs. Work is now under way to
liberalize the fixed telephony services market and to issue addi-
tional mobile services licenses.
National ICT plan
The national ICT plan includes a long-term vision and a five-year
plan for ICT in the Kingdom. The long-term vision is “to trans-
form the country to an Information Society, so as to increase
effectiveness and efficiency, and provide e-services for all sectors
of the society, and build a solid ICT industry to become a major
source of income for the nation”. An objective of the plan is to
seek to bridge the digital divide by enabling all societal sectors
to reach and access ICT services easily and utilize them effec-
tively. Other objectives include creating job opportunities, raising
Saudi Arabia – towards the
Information Society
Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim Al Suwaiyel, Governor, Communications and Information Technology Commission
e-learning. Children in a Saudi school using ICT’s in the learning process