Minister of Communications and Information Technology Visits the Communications and Information Technology Commission

His Excellency the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Communications and Information Technology Commission, Dr. Fahad bin Mua'tad Al-Hamed, paid a visit today, Tuesday, to the headquarters of the Communications and Information Technology Commission.

His Excellency was received by His Excellency the Commission's Governor, Engineer Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Darrab, and a number of Commission officials, where His Excellency viewed a presentation summarizing the most important stages and developments the communications and information technology sector has gone through since the sector was chosen as the first government sector in the Kingdom's privatization program until the end of this year, a phase that witnessed successive developments starting with enacting regulations and legislation, establishing the Commission, and the stage of opening the market for competition and licensing a number of service providers, during which the sector's growth and its contribution to GDP doubled.

His Excellency also reviewed the infrastructure of the various communications networks in the Kingdom, and the level of deployment of communications and information technology services, where the vital role played by government funding through the Commission's universal service projects in delivering voice and internet services to many remote villages and hamlets with low-density populations, covering all regions of the Kingdom, was reviewed, contributing to enhancing government efforts to deliver communications and information technology services to every citizen and resident on Kingdom soil.

His Excellency the Minister also reviewed the most important achievements of frequency spectrum management in the Kingdom, and the developments resulting from the effective management of this resource in supporting the deployment of terrestrial, aeronautical, and maritime communications services and supporting scientific research, in addition to reviewing the gains achieved in implementing the amendment to the National Numbering Plan, which contributed to providing more than 500 million numbering resources.

The international role that the Kingdom contributed to in regulating the communications sector through its position as a member among only 48 countries on the Council of the International Telecommunication Union was also reviewed, in addition to its contribution to achieving successes on a number of international files, most notably human exposure to electromagnetic waves and its measurement, the role of states in managing multilingual international domain names, cybersecurity, and the distribution of internet protocol addresses and the transition to the sixth version, and supporting this transformation in government agencies and the private sector in the Kingdom.

It is worth noting that the Kingdom was selected as a member of the Executive Bureau of the Council of Arab Ministers of Telecommunications and Information Technology at the League of Arab States for the communications sector, chaired by His Excellency the Minister of Communications and Information Technology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, His Excellency Dr. Fahad bin Mua'tad Al-Hamed.

At the beginning of his meeting with Commission staff, His Excellency said: I would like to affirm that you oversee a vital, key sector among the important sectors in the Kingdom, and I do not exaggerate in saying that it is the backbone of the national economy, and I assure you that I am very fortunate to join a stable sector that is a source of pride for the Kingdom and is managed by national talents, adding that there is room for development and doing more to advance the sector and maintain its continued growth; this is the nature of this sector, which grows and develops at an accelerating pace.

His Excellency noted that the Kingdom takes pride in the development taking place in the sector, and that the Commission plays a very important role in ensuring the sector's soundness and stability. His Excellency also reviewed the electronic systems developed by the Commission with its national talents and through its own efforts, including the electronic complaints system, the electronic customs clearance system, and the self-service system for promotional offers, and he also viewed the new applications that the Commission will soon launch. His Excellency expressed his happiness at seeing the distinguished working talents at the Commission, and praised the Commission's approach of cooperating with Saudi universities and specialized institutes in the field of measurements and specialized studies and research, urging the Commission to expand in this field.

At the end of the visit, His Excellency thanked everyone for the efforts and achievements made by the Commission that he witnessed, emphasizing that serving the nation and its citizens is an important matter that we must all strive to achieve with all the effort we can muster.