JEDDAH, 3 May 2003 — Minister of Telecom-munications and Information Technology Muhammad Jameel Mulla yesterday said his ministry would try to open up the Kingdom’s technology market to fair international competition.
“The merger of information technology with telecommunications was a basic and pressing requirement,” Mulla told Al-Watan Arabic daily, adding that the state set out a timetable for opening up the technology and telecom markets to foreign investment.
Mulla said King Abdul Aziz City of Science and Technology (KACST) would not be merged with his ministry. “KACST is a research institution that focuses on a number of scientific and medical research projects,” he said.
The minister promised to do his best to remove the obstacles facing investors in information technology. “We will also try to activate the telecom and Internet network,” the minister added.
Mulla, who was the governor of the Telecom Authority before being inducted into the new Cabinet on Wednesday, said the authority had reviewed the Internet service in the Kingdom and discussed ways of improving it.
Mulla told Okaz the telecommunications sector was the dynamo that would activate service, economic, health and other sectors. He said the authority had a schedule for opening up the telecom market. “The liberalization of the sector will start with mobile phones next year, to be followed by land phones in 2007,” he added, but said the ministry would investigate the capacity of the telecom market before opening up the sector.
Asked whether the e-commerce project would come under the new Telecom and Information Technology Ministry, Mulla said: “It is still unclear as your question comes hours after the Cabinet reshuffle. E-commerce is implemented through telecom and Internet networks. There are many legal, procedural and financial matters, some of which do not come under the jurisdiction of the ministry.”
Dr. Saleh Al-Athel, whose term as president of KACST was extended on Wednesday for another four years, told Okaz his organization would deal with technology in general.
“There will be no clash in the activities of the new ministry and the KACST,” he pointed out. Athel said the matters related to improving the Internet service and revising charges would be taken care of by the new ministry. “Our role will be limited to providing Internet service to universities and blocking forbidden websites. The remaining matters related to the Internet come under the ministry,” he added.
