"The Communications and Information Technology Commission" Tracks Sector Developments in the Tenth Issue of Its Electronic Newsletter

53.7 million mobile telecommunications subscribers and more than 13 million internet users in the Kingdom by the end of 2011

"The Communications and Information Technology Commission" Tracks Sector Developments in the Tenth Issue of Its Electronic Newsletter

Monday: 26/04/1433H

The Communications and Information Technology Commission today, Monday, released the tenth issue of its quarterly electronic newsletter concerned with tracking the most important developments in the telecommunications and IT sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the end of 2011.

The newsletter included the volume of spending on telecommunications and IT services in the Kingdom, estimates of the telecommunications sector's contribution to GDP, in addition to tracking companies' total revenues from their domestic and international operations by the end of 2011.

The newsletter reviewed, among its contents, a number of reports concerned with reading the sector's performance at both the local and global levels. In this context, it addressed the mobile telephone service quality performance indicators report for the Kingdom during 2011, the International Telecommunication Union's latest report on the accelerating need to implement broadband infrastructure in the Arab region, in addition to addressing the United Nations E-Government Survey for 2012, in which the Kingdom advanced to 41st place globally.

On the international conference front, the newsletter reviews the results of the two most important meetings the sector witnessed recently: the World Radiocommunication Conference 2012, which set the regulatory framework for spectrum and satellite orbits, in addition to the results of the Arab World Connect Summit, which concluded with the launch of projects to enhance access to information and communications technology in the region.

The newsletter stated that the number of mobile telecommunications subscriptions reached approximately 53.7 million subscriptions by the end of 2011, with prepaid subscriptions comprising the vast majority of these subscriptions at nearly 87%, making the mobile telecommunications penetration rate among the population approximately 188%.

Regarding the internet, the internet penetration rate increased sharply over the past years, rising from 5% in 2001 to approximately 47.5% by the end of 2011. The number of internet users in the Kingdom is currently estimated at more than 13 million users.

The newsletter detailed the growth and penetration rates in broadband services, which reached 1.95 million via fixed telecommunications networks, while total broadband subscriptions via mobile telecommunications networks, in their broad definition, reached approximately 11.3 million subscriptions.

It is worth noting that this issue of the Communications and Information Technology Commission's electronic newsletter is a quarterly publication concerned with tracking the most important figures and indicators witnessed by the telecommunications and IT sector in the Kingdom. To view the full contents of the newsletter, please visit the Media Center window on the Commission's website at www.cst.gov.sa.