An STC official told Arab News that free international roaming on the so-called excellence package had never stopped.

“We sent messages to our clients just to assure them that the free international roaming service is still activated and the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) will not be able to ban it,” he said.

CITC’s demand to charge for international roaming is in the public’s interest and for security reasons, he said.

“CITC is frightened of people who buy illegal SIM cards and use them for free international roaming. But we chose to offer certain subscribers (the excellence package) since we know they are regulars,” he added.

In February, the CITC issued a strong statement insisting that all three telecommunications operators in the Kingdom — STC, Mobily and Zain — end free international roaming charges for calls made and received by their customers. According to the CITC, the three companies should ensure the cost of international calls are at least 50 percent more than the cost of local calls.

The CITC promised punishments for any company that dared to reduce the cost of international calls. Although CITC’s ruling could potentially boost income for all three companies, they have not welcomed the organization’s statement.

STC and Mobily ignored the ruling and chose to carry on with their respective offers, arguing that they do not affect their financial situations.

The rift between the companies and the CITC has deepened, and relations are likely to worsen in the coming weeks.

Earlier this month, Mobily filed a case against CITC for forbidding them from providing such an offer to their customers.

An official at Mobily told Arab News that their first hearing was two weeks ago and they gave “a very convincing presentation” in front of the court. He said the next session would be in April.

“We are very keen to win this trial for we care about the satisfaction of our customers,” he said.

While Zain charges for international roaming, it offers exceptionally cheap calls to subscribers who travel to any of the Gulf and other Arab countries, while charging more than SR3 for those who visit European and American countries.

“We don’t have a comment to make until we see what the CITC’s reaction is to our competitors. For now all we have done is obey the CITC’s demand to charge for international roaming,” said an official from Zain.