RIYADH, 22 April — Negotiations between King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology and the Saudi Telecom Company are expected to result in a 50 percent cut in Internet subscription prices.
KACST is the sole authority governing Internet access in the Kingdom.
Iyas Al-Hajeri, head of the Internet Service Unit at KACST, said that the negotiations are focusing on both revising of the Internet tariff and ensuring a higher quality of service.
The memo of understanding to be signed between STC and KACST at the end of the current round of negotiations — estimated to conclude within two weeks — will stipulate that ISPs will be charged less, and this in turn should be passed onto the subscribers.
Ibrahim Al-Fareeh, assistant director general of the Internet Service Unit, recommended in a recent study that the rates be sharply reduced in order to promote Internet use in the country.
He also pointed out that Saudi Arabia has the highest subscription rates in the region.
"Here it costs around SR250,000 for two megabytes, compared to only SR50,000 in Bahrain."
There are four tiers of subscription tariffs for Internet use in the Kingdom: the amount paid by KACST to STC; that paid by ISPs to both KACST and STC; and the amount paid by individual subscribers to the ISP.
Al-Fareeh’s study also stressed the need to explore the potential benefits of introducing free Internet services, such as those in Britain.
There are 406,000 Internet subscribers in the Kingdom, and more than one million regular users.
