STC studying plan to help ease application process for expats

RIYADH, 14 May  — The Saudi Telecom Company (STC) is currently studying a plan to help expatriates gain telephone connections by making the application process simpler. The STC plan envisages the abolishment of the stipulation that the connection would be given only with his sponsor’s undertaking to shoulder the financial commitments of the applicant to STC, according to a source in the company.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

The new proposal is to replace the sponsor’s undertaking with a bank guarantee for a specific amount. If the idea is viable, it will be beneficial to both individuals and companies. An expatriate resident in the Kingdom cannot get a telephone connection unless his sponsor approves it, according to current STC regulations. The new proposal specified the amount of the bank guarantee as SR500 for a local-call telephone, SR1,000 for a telephone with facility to make national calls while an expatriate subscriber who wants an international telephone facility will have to submit a guarantee of SR2,000, the source said.

In the first phase of the scheme, STC is likely to allow a subscriber the choice between the bank guarantee and the sponsor’s undertaking. He will also be allowed to replace the sponsor’s guarantee with a bank guarantee.

The applicant will be required, according to the proposal, to deposit the amount of guarantee in a bank in favor of STC, which will repay the deposited amount to the subscriber when he terminates the connection.

The company will introduce the system when the required regulations on the financial guarantee are officially approved, the source said.

STC’s subscribers’ services division in coordination with the regional offices will supervise the implementation of the regulations while the finance department in the company will set up a unit for the bank guarantee to monitor and manage the financial-guarantee deposits.

The source also signaled the likelihood of the new system being implemented in the mobile phone sector if the move is successful with the land lines.

STC currently does not allow expatriates to transfer their telephones and when they no longer require the service, they have to surrender it to the company.

The STC has also disclosed that telephone bills will be available on the Internet soon. Abdul Rahman Al-Yami, STC ‘s president, said the new move will be in keeping with the Kingdom’s new strides in the e-commerce sector.