Communications and Information Technology Commission: 48 Million Mobile Communications Subscriptions by the End of 2016

The Communications and Information Technology Commission launched today issue twenty-eight of its electronic newsletter concerned with monitoring the most important developments in the communications and information technology sector in the Kingdom by the end of 2016.

The newsletter included the number of subscriptions to mobile communications services, which reached about 48 million subscriptions, and the number of active fixed telephone lines, which reached about 3.5 million lines, while subscriptions to broadband services over mobile communications networks, in their comprehensive definition, reached about 24 million subscriptions. The number of subscriptions to broadband services over fixed communications networks also reached about 3.29 million, which includes digital subscriber lines (DSL), fixed wireless connections, in addition to fiber optics and other wired lines.

The Communications and Information Technology Commission estimated in its newsletter that the number of internet users in the Kingdom currently stands at about 24 million users, and also indicated that international internet connectivity capacity for 2016 reached 3,185 Gbps, an increase of 114% compared to 1,484 Gbps in 2015.

The newsletter also included the total direct revenues achieved by telecommunications companies from their operations in the Kingdom, at about (SAR 72 billion), while the Commission estimated the volume of spending on communications and information technology services in the Kingdom at about SAR 130 billion, and also estimated the contribution of the communications and information technology sector to GDP at about (6%), in addition to its estimate of the contribution of the communications and information technology sector to total non-oil GDP at around (10%).

Electronic Newsletter