RIYADH, 7 March 2004 — Saudi Telecom is adding a zero to all 05 mobile numbers starting April 21.
This was announced at a press conference by Saud Al-Dowaish, president of STC’s mobile unit. The conversion will become final on July 21, after which only calls with the additional 0 will get through.
Al-Dowaish said the move would bring improved services to STC’s 7.5 million GSM subscribers in the Kingdom.
“With this change, we will be able to improve network capabilities (and) relieve congestion‚” Al-Dowaish said, adding it allocated one million additional subscribers.
The change will happen automatically.
“We have made every effort to make this a smooth transition for our subscribers,” he said.
After April 21 a mobile call will be followed by an automated reminder of the July 21 deadline.
Al-Dowaish was defensive about the high charges for local mobile phone calls, reeling off statistics to prove that rates compare favorably with those of the other Gulf states.
He did not rule out a further reduction in mobile call rates but would not give details.
Call rates in Saudi Arabia are steep due to the STC monopoly.
But the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) prequalified this week 11 consortia, including international telecom giants Vodafone of Britain, Deutsche Telekom of Germany and Telefonica of Spain to apply for the Kingdom’s second mobile phone operator license.
Each consortium will consist of five Saudi companies and an international mobile phone operator. The winner will be announced by the last quarter of 2004.
