CITC Governor: National Day Anniversary Paints a Bright Picture of the Unique Bond Between Leadership and People

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On the occasion of the 88th National Day anniversary, a bright picture is drawn of the unique bond between leadership and people, and a shining image of this country's renaissance emerges, evoking the Kingdom's history since the era of the founder King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud, may God have mercy on him, through the achievements of his sons the kings who followed -may God have mercy on them- up to this unique era, the era of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, may God protect him, supported by his Trustworthy Crown Prince His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, may God support him, as the Kingdom witnesses in this phase qualitative leaps guided by a modern vision, based on studying the present and anticipating the future, and setting plans to ensure the Kingdom remains proud and dignified, beginning with the launch of Saudi Vision 2030 followed by the National Transformation Program 2020, so that the Kingdom now moves with an ambitious plan and confident steps, investing its full capabilities and strong elements of power to create the ideal model of a modern state in its economy, politics, and all its affairs.

The wise leadership -may God support it- has recognized that the Kingdom has diverse opportunities awaiting investment, and that various sectors of the state have rich fields awaiting exploitation, most notably the communications and information technology sector, which has enjoyed great priority in development work in our country since the era of the founding King, may God have mercy on him. That phase required connecting the Kingdom's far-flung regions, so his royal order was issued in 1345H corresponding to 1926 to establish the Directorate of Telegraph and Telephone, and in 1353H corresponding to 1934 the Kingdom's government established (22) wireless stations to connect (22) cities and villages in the Kingdom with telegraph services. The state's attention to this sector continued thereafter, with the privatization program aimed at raising the efficiency of the national economy and increasing its competitiveness by liberalizing service markets and opening the door to competition to provide advanced communications and information technology services throughout the Kingdom comprehensively, with high quality, and at reasonable prices, through several stages beginning with converting the government entity providing communications services in 1418H corresponding to 1998 into a company managed on a commercial basis, followed by the stage of organizing and structuring the communications sector and establishing the necessary regulations, bylaws, and procedures, with the establishment of the Communications and Information Technology Commission in 1422H corresponding to 2001.

The communications and information technology sector is one of the most important pillars of Saudi Vision 2030, working through a set of initiatives and programs to raise the level of innovation in advanced technologies, enhance the value of investment in the digital economy, establish the foundations of e-commerce, and enable digital government transactions, contributing to achieving the goals of the Kingdom's Vision. The Commission has worked to enhance its infrastructure, and increase the frequency spectrum allocated to service providers through auctions, which led to improved performance of wireless communications networks, and increased the average mobile internet speed threefold at the beginning of this year, and increased 4G network coverage by 90%.

At the level of the regulatory and competitive environment in the communications sector, the Commission has undertaken a number of initiatives, including the regulatory environment improvement initiative by granting unified licenses to a number of qualified companies and issuing a number of regulations to stimulate infrastructure sharing to reduce operating costs, and enhancing infrastructure investment by creating a new wholesale market at the infrastructure level, which enabled issuing a license to one of the new companies entering the market, and at the level of competitive maturity, a number of regulations were issued to control the wholesale and retail markets. The Commission is also working on issuing a number of market indicators and sector economics that help in making investment, statistical, and regulatory decisions.

Among the prominent efforts also in the field of communications and information technology is enabling 5G in the Kingdom through a national team that includes all sector partners, where the strategic plans of mobile phone service providers regarding conducting trials and the commercial launch of the service in the Kingdom were determined, and accordingly more than (900) sites were approved for conducting trials distributed across the Kingdom's regions during 2018, and trials have so far been launched at nine sites, and the Commission has issued temporary licenses in the (3.6-3.8) GHz frequency band to licensed telecom companies providing public mobile communications services in the Kingdom to conduct trials on 5G mobile phone technology. The Commission affirms that it seeks to provide all necessary enablers to ensure that 5G technology trials are conducted in the Kingdom with ease, as the expected date for launching field trials is at the end of this year.

It is worth noting in this context that great season which the Communications and Information Technology Commission is honored by each year, namely the Hajj season, during which communications networks face very high pressure due to millions of communication lines concentrated in one location, and by the grace of God, the network performance results for this year's Hajj season 1439H were among the best seasons, despite those results recording record levels in data consumption and voice call volume, as data consumption in both Makkah and Madinah exceeded (30) thousand terabytes, an increase of (33%) over last year, and the number of calls made exceeded (400) million calls, and the number of network users in both Makkah Al-Mukarramah and Madinah Al-Munawwarah exceeded (7.5) million subscribers.

At the international level, the Communications and Information Technology Commission, with the support of the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has achieved many accomplishments, including being classified among the most mature countries in regulating the communications and information technology sector globally according to the International Telecommunication Union, and its communications and information technology market being considered the largest in the Middle East and North Africa region, with spending exceeding (136) billion riyals, and an e-commerce volume of (30) billion riyals, making it the largest market in the region. All this has led the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to receive praise from the United Nations for its leading role in the region, and the growth of its international indicators over the past two years.

The Communications and Information Technology Commission affirms that these figures place great responsibility on it to assess the quality levels of the services provided, and the extent of beneficiaries' satisfaction, with the aim of maintaining this sector's excellence regionally and internationally, and enhancing the Kingdom's position as a good example in the field of rapid growth, service quality, sustainable development, and continuous updating in depth and breadth, while affirming the Commission's full commitment to its role in Saudi Vision 2030, and its ongoing work to build the digital society, establish a culture of creativity, and pave the way for innovation.

In conclusion, I extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to our wise leadership, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz, may God protect him, and his Trustworthy Crown Prince His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, may God support him, for the ambitious vision for our beloved country, and for the wise directives and providing the necessary means enabling the Commission to perform its duties as hoped. I am also pleased to extend to them and to all the sons and daughters of our ambitious nation, my sincere congratulations on this beloved National Day, praying to God Almighty to enable us to always strive toward achieving our desired ambitions.