RIYADH, 2 January 2005 — Saudi Telecom Company (STC) has reduced charges by up to 44 percent for international calls to more than 120 countries from yesterday, it was announced here.

Charges for calls to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, Nepal and Yemen, which account for the largest number of expatriates in the country, have been substantially reduced, said Saad ibn Zafer Al-Qahtani, STC’s general manager for corporate communications & marketing support.

Calls from the Kingdom to Philippines will now cost SR3.70 for one minute compared to SR4 earlier, whereas callers will have to pay only SR3 for India instead of SR4.50 charged earlier. Calling charges to Bangladesh have been reduced from SR4.50 a minute to SR3.60, for Pakistan from SR4.50 to SR3.70, Indonesia from SR4 to SR3.60, Sudan from SR3.40 to SR2.80 and Egypt from SR3.40 to SR2.80.

Al-Qahtani said that the new tariff reductions will cover all member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Egypt , Sudan Syria, Lebanon and Jordan besides a number of other countries. “This is for the second time that Al-Hatif international call charges have been slashed for so many countries”.

STC officials said that calling neighboring Gulf countries has been made cheaper by 20 halalas a minute, whereas calls to the immediate Gulf neighbor Yemen will cost SR2.80 per minute. Europeans or those calling EU countries will also be benefited by the new reduction. Call charges to the US and Canada have been slashed to SR2.50 per minute from SR3, Germany from SR5 to SR3.80 and Turkey from SR4 to SR3.20.

Rates have been cut from SR5 per minute to SR3.80 for Austria, from SR4.50 to SR2.50 for Malaysia and from SR8 to SR6 for Nepal, according to call charges shown on STC’s website. “These reductions are part of the company’s policy of conducting regular price reviews to provide competitive and affordable services that meet customers’ requirements”, the STC officials said.

They said the STC has plans to provide more quality services and incentives to its customers. This policy has led the subscription of landline phones to soar beyond 3.4 million lines. It has spread its landline network to reach all areas in the Kingdom, including remote areas. The use of ‘Digital Microwave Technology’ has been the key factor in the spread of services geographically to cover remote locations.