DAMMAM, 27 January — It has now been more than three years since the Internet was officially launched in the Kingdom. Internet service providers (ISPs), Net users and experts all agree that more should be done to popularize the Internet here so that the public could make maximum use of it.
Almost everyday the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) announces some new policy to improve and expand Internet service. Saudi Telephone Company (STC) has done the same. KACST in the past three years has slashed Internet charges; at the launch most ISPs charged between SR160-SR200 a month for unlimited use. Today, the same ISPs charge from SR110 to SR130 per month. STC also cut its charges; in the early days it charged SR4.50 per hour while today’s charges are nearly 30 percent lower.
The popularity of the Internet is also evident in cafes which once charged SR25-SR15 per hour and now charge SR5 to SR10 per hour. Cafe owners agree that this reduction was more a result of intense competition than the reduction of the charges by KACST and STC. "The margin of profit on SR5 per hour is almost negligible," says an owner in Dammam. "We make profit from snacks and other services," he said.
ISPs say that the Internet has reached almost every level of Saudi society. The number of users in the past three years has almost doubled. "But certainly there is scope for further expansion," said Haitham Abo Aisha, an ISP executive.
ISPs consider that STC, with a complete monopoly over communications, could do more to make the Internet accessible. "Our charges are still one of the highest in the world," said Abo Aisha. A recent cartoon in an Arabic paper criticized STC policy. The cartoon showed an STC official promising to make local calls free by the year 2050. In the next frame, the cartoon showed that in countries including the Gulf states local calls are already free. The message was clear: The Kingdom is 50 years behind.
ISPs say that it is time for both STC and KACST to review their Internet policies and charges.
Both ISPs and many computer experts advocate a review of the present policy of blocking various sites. They are unanimous in supporting KACST’s decision to block certain sites. "It is absolutely necessary to block such sites as they will pollute the minds of our youth and the sites themselves are completely non-productive," said Abdul Aziz Al-Ghamdi, a professor at KFUPM’s College of Computer Science. At the same time, there is a strong feeling that many sites are blocked for no reason. Users say that it is essential to liberalize the policy in order to make maximum use of Internet.
In response, KACST says that it is not rigid in its policy and has actually opened some sites after receiving representations from users. "Net users will notice that in every blocked site, there is a message that if the user thinks that the site should be accessible, then he should fill the required form giving reasons and information about the site," said a KACST official in Riyadh.
ISPs agree that KACST has kept itself open for reviewing but at the same time, they say that instead of waiting for a request from a user, KACST itself should take the initiative and review banned sites from time to time. Then it could decide if the site should be banned or not. Recently, the Arabic press has been full of articles and letters urging more flexibility about blocking sites.