SAR 120 Billion in Spending on the Communications and Information Technology Sector by the End of 2015

The Communications and Information Technology Commission stated that spending on communications and information technology services in the Kingdom was estimated at about SAR 120 billion in 2015, with a growth rate of 7% over 2014, as a result of establishments across the Kingdom beginning to adopt digital transformation initiatives in order to reduce costs and enhance the efficiency of business procedures. The Commission indicated that telecommunications accounts for the largest share of spending at 64%, while information technology accounts for about 36%, noting that this spending figure includes communications services, information technology services, hardware, and software. This came through an analytical study conducted by the Commission to estimate the volume of spending on communications and information technology services in the Kingdom.

According to the study, the Commission said there is notable growth in spending on information technology services, noting that information security will become a fundamental component in the Kingdom's digital transformation strategies, along with growth in the number of establishments looking to implement various advanced and proactive information security solutions, as well as the continued steady growth of the communications and information technology market.

The Communications and Information Technology Commission also estimated that the contribution of the communications and information technology sector to the Gross Domestic Product was about (6%) for the year (2015), amid a rise in the value added of telecommunications activity over the past three years. The Commission said that when excluding the petroleum and mining sector from the GDP component, the contribution of communications and information technology activity to total non-oil GDP is estimated at around (10%) for the year (2015).

The Commission said that the care and attention given to the communications and information technology sector by the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques — may God protect him — are behind achieving these developmental leaps, in order to meet the aspirations of the Kingdom's government to harness the capabilities of this sector to serve citizens and facilitate their transactions, and in a way that helps government entities perform their work with high efficiency, and raises the efficiency of the national economy, noting that the communications sector in the Kingdom has achieved leading positions on both the regional and international levels, being the largest in the Middle East in terms of capital value and spending volume.