Governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission Congratulates the Leadership on the Kingdom's 87th National Day

His Excellency Dr. Abdulaziz bin Salem Al-Ruwais, Governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission, extended, on his own behalf and on behalf of the Commission's staff, the highest expressions of congratulations and best wishes to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and to His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense – may God preserve them – and to the dear Saudi people, on the occasion of the Kingdom's 87th National Day anniversary, affirming that this anniversary holds great significance and paints a bright picture of the unique bond between the leadership and the people, a bright picture that has manifested and continues to manifest over the years and amid successive events.

His Excellency Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Ruwais, Governor of the Commission, said in the context of his remarks on this occasion: "This anniversary serves as a reminder of the Kingdom's history since the era of the Founder, King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud – may God have mercy on his soul – through the achievements of his sons, the kings who succeeded him – 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 preserve him – in which the Kingdom is witnessing a remarkable launch."

His Excellency Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Ruwais continued, saying: "Following the pace of modernization witnessed by the Kingdom since its first foundations were laid by the Founding King – may God have mercy on him – we see leaps increasing at every stage, and continuous development brought about by his sons, the kings, up to this glorious era, led by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz, supported by the Crown Prince His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz – may God preserve them – as the Kingdom is witnessing, in this phase, qualitative leaps guided by a modern vision, based on studying the present and looking ahead to the future by setting plans to ensure the Kingdom's continued strength and pride. This came through the launch of the National Transformation Program 2020, followed by Saudi Vision 2030, and the Kingdom began moving forward with an ambitious plan and confident steps, investing its untapped potential and strengths to build a model of a modern state in its economy, politics, and all its affairs. The current leadership has recognized that the Kingdom has diverse opportunities awaiting investment, and that the various sectors of the state have rich areas awaiting development, so Saudi Vision 2030 heralded a new era for the nation and its people, built upon the foundations laid by the Founding King – may God have mercy on him – for the Kingdom to continue its progress and consolidate its global role befitting its standing and capabilities."

His Excellency Dr. Al-Ruwais explained that the Kingdom today continues to move forward with confident steps toward growth and progress, with unlimited support encompassing various sectors to spread prosperity and flourishing for this nation and its people, noting the efforts and support of the wise leadership for the communications and information technology sector, which has witnessed important developments in the past few years represented in the development of regulatory policies and legislation, and the expansion of communications and information technology services markets to introduce new and advanced services that meet the needs of beneficiaries, whether individuals, the business sector, or the government sector.

His Excellency the Governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission noted that the communications sector in the Kingdom has achieved leading positions at both the regional and international levels, as the Commission has succeeded in delivering communications and information technology services to remote and commercially unprofitable areas, through Universal Service Fund projects aimed at providing voice services and broadband internet services to remote areas, with the total number of population clusters covered by the Commission's services reaching (17,762) clusters by the end of the second quarter of 2017.

His Excellency noted that the Kingdom launched the National Transformation Program as one of the key programs supporting the achievement of Saudi Vision 2030, with the program including strategic objectives linked to phased targets through 2020, with the communications and information technology sector being one of the most important pillars of this program, as the sector-related components of the vision include developing infrastructure for communications, information technology and broadband, innovating in advanced technologies, and investing in the digital economy.

In keeping with the National Transformation Program, the Commission recently completed the preparation of an ambitious strategic plan aimed at enabling the Kingdom to achieve global leadership and raise its competitiveness regionally and internationally through a set of initiatives that must be implemented to achieve the outlined objectives, foremost among them attracting foreign investment to the communications and information technology sector, promoting entrepreneurship and innovation in cooperation with relevant entities, creating an environment attractive to large hosting/data centers, and developing regulatory frameworks to encourage public telecommunications service providers to invest in broadband infrastructure, in order to achieve the objectives of the National Transformation Program 2020 initiatives, represented in covering (80%) of homes in high-density urban areas and (55%) of homes in urban areas with high-speed fiber-optic networks, increasing wireless broadband network coverage to (70%) of homes in remote areas (at speeds exceeding 10 megabits per second) by 2020, developing indicators to measure the quality of broadband services and publishing them to the public, and strengthening a fair competitive environment, in addition to increasing the local value added of communications and information technology to about (100) billion riyals.

Regarding the performance of the communications and information technology sector in the Kingdom, His Excellency the Governor of the Commission explained that the sector continues to maintain a penetration rate for mobile telecommunications services classified among the highest in the world, reaching about (137%) among the population by the end of the second quarter of 2017, while internet services penetration reached about (78%) among the population, and the number of subscriptions to broadband services via mobile and fixed telecommunications networks reached about (29.5) million subscriptions.

At the conclusion of his statement, His Excellency the Governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission prayed to the Almighty Creator to protect the leader of this path, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz, and his trusted Crown Prince His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, to preserve for us the blessing of security and stability, and to bring back this cherished anniversary to our country with even greater strength and empowerment.