51.8 Million Mobile Communications Subscriptions and About 20 Million Internet Users in the Kingdom by the End of the First Quarter of 2015

The Communications and Information Technology Commission launched today, Tuesday, the twenty-first issue of its quarterly electronic newsletter concerned with monitoring the most important developments in the communications and information technology sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The newsletter included the number of subscriptions to mobile communications services, which was estimated at about 51.8 million subscriptions by the end of the first quarter of 2015, with a penetration rate of about 167.7% relative to the population. Regarding the internet, the number of internet users in the Kingdom rose by the end of the first quarter of 2015 to reach about 20 million users. Subscriptions to broadband services over mobile communications networks in the Kingdom continued to rise, reaching about 31.8 million subscriptions by the end of the first quarter of this year, 2015. These subscriptions include data services and subscriptions to voice communications packages, making the penetration rate of broadband services over mobile communications networks, relative to the population, about 102%. As for subscriptions to broadband services over fixed communications networks, which include digital subscriber lines (DSL), fixed wireless connections, in addition to fiber optics and other wired lines, the number of subscriptions reached about 3.21 million subscriptions for the first quarter of this year, 2015, with a penetration rate estimated at about 45.3% relative to dwellings.