CITC Announces the Start of Roaming Price Reductions Among GCC Countries

The Communications and Information Technology Commission announced the start of the first phase of reducing retail prices for roaming services among GCC countries, which was approved to take effect from April 1, 2016, by the GCC Ministerial Committee for Telecommunications and Information Technology at its 24th meeting, setting wholesale and retail price ceilings for outgoing and incoming calls, call receiving, data services, and short text messages. The Commission explained in a statement that the price ceiling applies to all mobile telecom service providers in GCC countries, at (0.975 riyals) for outgoing calls within the roaming country in GCC states, (2.4 riyals) for international outgoing calls to GCC countries while roaming within GCC states, (1.31 riyals) for incoming calls while roaming within GCC states, (0.3 riyals) for outgoing short text messages while roaming within GCC states, and (4.875 riyals) for data while roaming within GCC states. The Commission confirmed that subscribers have the freedom to use roaming services on a pay-as-you-go basis at the unified GCC roaming prices, or to choose subscriptions suited to them such as roaming packages offered by mobile telecom service providers. The Commission expects a significant impact on the growth of data service usage after the implementation of the GCC agreement to regulate Gulf roaming prices begins. It is noted that this agreement is an extension of the efforts of the GCC Ministerial Committee for Telecommunications and Information Technology, in continuous coordination with regulatory entities in the telecom sector in GCC countries, and mobile telecom service providers.