Communications and Information Technology Commission joins the world in celebrating World Telecommunication and Information Society Day

The Communications and Information Technology Commission is joining the world today in celebrating World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD-16), observed on May 17 of each year. This year comes under the theme "ICT Entrepreneurship for Social Impact," with the aim of raising awareness of the potential of the internet and other information and communications technologies (ICT) for all societies and economies, in addition to highlighting ways to bridge the digital divide.

On this global occasion, the Commission said that the Kingdom has made great efforts in spreading communications and information technology services in all regions of the Kingdom, which have been achieved thanks to God and then thanks to the support the sector receives from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz - may God support him - and his wise government. The communications and information technology market in the Kingdom is currently the largest in the Middle East region in terms of capital value and spending volume, with capital investments in the sector estimated at more than SAR 30 billion, and spending on communications and information technology services of more than SAR 120 billion during 2015. The communications and information technology sector in the Kingdom also contributed about (6%) to GDP by the end of 2015.

The Commission said that the penetration rate of communications and information technology services in the Kingdom remains among the highest in the world, reaching (168%) relative to the population. Regarding delivering communications and information technology services to remote and commercially unprofitable population clusters, the Commission, through the Universal Service Fund, delivered communications and internet services to more than (17) thousand population clusters by the end of 2015.

Regarding the number of internet users in the Kingdom, the Commission explained that the number of internet users in 2015 reached about 22 million users, 90% of whom spend between SAR 100-200 monthly on internet services, with an average monthly spending of about SAR 120. In addition, 85% of them have social media accounts, and 69% of them have active social media accounts. The total number of users of social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat) in the Kingdom reached approximately (59) million monthly users during 2015. Relatedly, the Commission said that total international internet connectivity capacity reached about 1,500 gigabits per second, while fiber optic lines exceeded 163,000 km.

Regarding what the sector has recently achieved at the international level, the Commission said that the Kingdom achieved 36th place in the UN E-Government measurement among 193 countries, and 4th place among 140 countries in mobile phone penetration rate according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2015. The Kingdom also won (7) awards from the United Nations for World Summit on the Information Society projects over the past four consecutive years, from 2012 to 2016, as well as (3) Saudi entrepreneurs winning at Mobile World Congress 2015 among the best (15) small and startup enterprises in the world. In the same context, the Kingdom won two global awards presented at the conference for the Kingdom's support of small and medium enterprises in the sector, and an entrepreneurship award among the best five entrepreneurs worldwide.