CITC governor says Saudi telecom market size estimated at SAR 70 bln

Mohammad Altamimi, governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC)

Saudi Arabia’s telecommunications industry is the largest and fastest-growing market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Mohammad Altamimi, governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) said on the sidelines of a conference held in Riyadh today, March 29, 2021.

The Saudi telecommunications industry is estimated at SAR 70 billion with the information technology market size at SAR 64 billion and Saudi postal services at SAR 6.4 billion. The market value of the Saudi telecom operators is estimated at SAR 246 billion, added Altamimi.

The digital infrastructure investments in partnership with the private sector firms have increased to more than $15 billion over the last three years.

Additionally, the communications and information technology, including postal services, contributes up to 5.5% to the Kingdom’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Altamimi highlighted the industry key indicators for 2020, indicating that the mobile services penetration rate hit 135.5% of the population, Internet usage reached 97.8%, while Internet coverage reached 99% of inhabited regions.

Fiber optics were rolled out in more than 3.5 million households, while more than 12,000 telecom towers were deployed in 51 cities across the Kingdom, up 128%, compared to 2019. More than 60,000 free Wi-Fi hotspots were provided for the public across the Kingdom.