The financial indicators of Saudi Arabia's telecom sector have witnessed an increase in the companies’ profitability by SR11 billion ($2.9 billion) in 2018, up 18 percent from 2017, according to official reports.
The telecom companies’ market value has also increased to SR62 billion ($16.5 billion) while total revenues of telecommunications service providers amounted to SR73.3 billion ($19.5 billion) by the end of 2018.
Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) explained during ICT Indicators Forum 2019, which was held in Riyadh on Wednesday, that number of YouTube users in Saudi Arabia has reached 19.1 million, followed by Facebook with 16.8 million, WhatsApp with 15.2 million, Instagram with 15 million, and SnapChat with 9.4 million.
It revealed that the Kingdom ranked 45th in the Speed Global Index for the development of Internet speeds, surpassing Japan and the United Kingdom.
CITC Governor Dr. Abdulaziz al-Ruwais stressed during the forum on the importance of the statistical information as a tool to help knowing the market’s current status and the availability of services in it.
He said this aims at developing strategies and regulatory policies that ensure the availability of infrastructure, basic equipment and the spread of services to all Saudi regions.
Ruwais also pointed to the expanded service provision, with total subscriptions in mobile telecom services market amounting to 49.7 million.
The prevalence of voice services has also risen to 127 percent among people in addition to the 4G coverage for about 90 percent of Saudi regions, including centers, villages and remote areas.
The latest global reports indicate an increase in the average speed of mobile Internet download in Saudi Arabia to 31.06 Mbps, Ruwais added, compared to the world average speed of downloading, which is 25.27 Mbps, indicating Saudi progress at the speeds of mobile Internet at the global level.
He referred to the spread of modern communication technologies across Saudi Arabia through launching many spectrum auctions that aim at raising the total spectrum allocated for mobile communications services in the Kingdom from 260 MHz to 1010 MHz, which will contribute to doubling the Internet speed.
