Announcement of the Floating of Project No. (5) and Project No. (6) — Third Operational Plan of the Universal Service Fund at the Communications and Information Technology Commission

The Universal Service Fund at the Communications and Information Technology Commission announced today, Saturday 14/6/1433H, corresponding to 5/5/2012, the floating of the two projects of the Third Operational Plan (the fifth and sixth), which aim to provide voice communications services and broadband internet services at speeds of up to (512 kbps), in a number of governorates of the Kingdom and their affiliated centers and villages. All companies qualified to participate in the Fund's projects — namely the Saudi Telecom Group, Etihad Etisalat Company (Mobily), the Saudi Mobile Telecommunications Company (Zain), and Etihad Atheeb Telecom Company (GO) — received the request for proposals documents for these two projects.

The fifth project targets the governorate of Tayma in the Tabuk region, and the governorates of (Al-Shinan, Baqaa, and Hail) in the Hail region, while the sixth project targets all governorates in the Najran region (Najran, Al-Kharkhir, Badr Al-Janoub, Habouna, Khabash, Sharurah, Thar, and Yadamah). More than (204,000) people in (669) centers, villages, and hamlets are expected to benefit from these two projects.

It is worth noting that the Fund is currently following up on the implementation of its projects — the first (exploratory), the second, the third, and the fourth — included within its first and second operational plans, from which, God willing, nearly one million people in (3,897) centers, villages, and hamlets belonging to (28) governorates of the Kingdom will benefit.