JEDDAH, 24 March 2007 — The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) will open today the single sealed financial proposal of each of the seven eligible consortia for the Kingdom’s third mobile phone license, during a ceremony in Riyadh in the presence of their representatives. In an announcement last week, the CITC, the Kingdom’s telecom regulator, said Kingdom Turkcell, MTC & Partners, Samawat-Bharti, Oger Telecom, Tawasul-Digicel, MTN Saudi Arabia and Abdullah Abdul Aziz Al-Rajhi-Reliance have been qualified to bid for the much-sought-for license.
The opening of the financial proposals will enable the public to know which of the seven consortia made the largest offer to win the prestigious license. Market analysts said the amount would be between SR15 billion and SR20 billion. The Cabinet will announce the award of the license.
Thomas Kuruvilla, managing director of Arthur D. Little in the Middle East, that has supporting the CITC in the licensing process, emphasized the need for Saudi Arabia having more service providers and better choices when the country is poised to make dramatic growth with the opening of mega economic cities.
“The new licenses will encourage additional investment in the fixed local access infrastructure, catalyze the mobile market growth and accommodate future trends in convergence,” Kuruvilla told Arab News. “The encouraging response to the licensing process is a testimony of market potential,” he added.
Kuruvilla attributed the good response from international telecom companies to the extensive and elaborate public consultations carried out by CITC throughout the licensing process, answering all queries and placing the answers on its website.
Saudi Arabia is the fast growing telecom market in the Middle East with total revenues from both mobile and land phones reaching SR34.2 billion ($9.1 billion) in 2005.