"Communications Commission" announces update of interconnection regulations between service providers

The Communications and Information Technology Commission announced an update to the regulations for

interconnection

and access to physical facilities between communications and information technology service providers, which aim to achieve competition in the communications market and enhance investment in the Kingdom's telecommunications network infrastructure.

The updates covered many regulatory and technical aspects, and added new services in line with continuous developments in the communications and information technology sector, in addition to including clarifications of the general framework of the reference offer, and defining the scope of rights and obligations of service providers when providing and requesting interconnection and physical facility access services.

The Commission explained that it seeks through these updates to support the competitive environment among service providers, and enhance investment in infrastructure in the communications sector; with the aim of encouraging the rollout of next-generation networks, and ensuring that interconnection and physical facility access services are provided at fair prices, in addition to regulating the mechanism for following up on requests and provision of these services.

It is worth noting that interconnection operations concern the linking of communications networks belonging to the same service provider, or between it and another service provider, for the purpose of enabling users of communications networks to communicate with each other. Facility access operations concern making physical facilities, infrastructure, and related services available among service providers, such as: (towers - stations - cables), and others, under specific conditions, for the purpose of providing high-speed telecommunications networks. The Communications and Information Technology Commission works to regulate these operations by issuing and establishing a set of

regulatory frameworks

which can be viewed by visiting the Commission's website:

https://www.cst.gov.sa