"CITC" Announces the End of the Corrective Grace Period for Supplying and Selling Non-Compliant Telecom Devices

The Communications and Information Technology Commission announced the end of the corrective grace period for supplying and selling non-compliant telecom devices and the start of enforcing fines of up to 25 million riyals under the Telecommunications Act upon detecting any such devices in local markets. The Commission also warned telecom device suppliers against supplying, distributing, and selling devices that do not comply with the specifications approved by the Commission, including unlicensed telecom devices and unauthorized signal boosters, in order to avoid the announced penalties.

The Commission noted that the grace period lasted 60 days, during which a number of

inspection tours of telecom markets and shops

were conducted, to confirm the significant impact that non-compliant devices have on telecom quality, as unauthorized signal boosters cause radio interference that negatively affects mobile communications services, and also cause a deterioration in service levels for users near these non-compliant devices.

It is noted that the Commission offers, through its website,

the "Device Licensing" service

which enables manufacturers and suppliers of telecom and information technology devices to verify their devices' compliance with technical specifications before importing them into the Kingdom or manufacturing them.