Communications and Information Technology Commission: 49 Million Mobile Communications Subscriptions by the End of the Third Quarter

The Communications and Information Technology Commission launched today issue twenty-seven 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 by the end of the third quarter of 2016.

The newsletter included the number of subscriptions to mobile communications services, which reached about 49 million subscriptions by the end of the third quarter of 2016, of which about 83% were prepaid out of total subscriptions, with the penetration rate of mobile communications services relative to the population reaching 153%.

The number of active fixed telephone lines by the end of the third quarter of 2016 reached about 3.5 million lines, of which about 1.8 million were residential lines, representing about (52%) of total active lines. Regarding the fixed-line penetration rate relative to the population, it reached 11%, while the penetration rate relative to dwellings reached 31.4%. It is clear that there has been fluctuation in the total number of fixed voice communications service subscriptions in recent years as a result of changes in available technologies such as mobile internet, and changes in user needs, and consequently the entry of mobile communications services into competition for fixed-line subscribers.

Subscriptions to broadband services over mobile communications networks, in their comprehensive definition, reached about 25.25 million subscriptions by the end of the third quarter of 2016, making the penetration rate of broadband services over mobile communications networks, relative to the population, about 78.8%. Meanwhile, the number of 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, reached about 3.06 million subscriptions by the end of the third quarter of 2016, with a penetration rate estimated at about 42% relative to dwellings. Regarding the internet, the number of internet users in the Kingdom reached 24 million users by the end of the third quarter of 2016.

Electronic Newsletter.pdf