It’s old news that Saudi Telecom Company (STC) has been monopolizing the telecom market in Saudi Arabia for the past eight years. It’s also old news that it has failed to meet public demands to provide adequate and reliable services, particularly in the mobile phone service.
Every time I recall how we were asked to pay SR10,000 for a mobile chip when the service was first introduced in the Kingdom and how the company now charges a mere SR100, I do not know whether to laugh or weep.
And the fact that the actual cost of a mobile chip does not exceed SR4 makes you wonder where the hundreds of millions of riyals went that the company made years ago from their outrageous charges — which would make people’s heads spin anywhere else in the world. It definitely did not go to shareholders, because STC was not a public company at that time.
And it definitely did not go toward expanding its bandwidth or constructing mobile beacons near small towns or on major highways.
So where did all the money go?
Leaving aside the hundreds of millions profited by the rip-off SR10,000 chip, few people realize that the company is charging a monthly service charge of SR60 for the mobile phone service. This amount is paid by every mobile subscriber in the Kingdom on top of the cost of the calls.
In other words, even if someone did not make a single call from his mobile phone, he would still be charged SR120 every two months when he receives his bill.
If my calculations are correct, every mobile subscriber pays SR720 a year to STC as a service charge (SR120 x 6 months when the subscriber receives the bill). STC collects the full SR120 service charge from every mobile subscriber every two months even if his mobile is out of service or was disconnected for some time within that two-month period. This is another rip-off that goes unnoticed by the public because we are mute or unwilling to bring it up.
If there are approximately four million mobile subscribers in Saudi Arabia at the moment — not including SAWA card users — then STC receives from the public SR2.88 billion a year for service charge only, which does not include the cost of calls (4,000,000 x 720).
I have not even begun to calculate the amount STC receives as a service charge from landlines in the Kingdom, which could be twice as much. But for the time being, let’s stick to the mobile phone.
The SR2.88 billion STC is receiving every year from mobile subscribers in the Kingdom is for three reasons only: to build more towers so the mobile signal can be received all over the Kingdom even in the smallest village; to expand bandwidth so any person can make or receive a call even during peak hours on holidays and to meet public demand by providing sufficient and professional customer service.
How many of these three objectives has STC managed to achieve with the billions of riyals it has received from the public over eight years?
Most towns and villages in Saudi Arabia still do not have a mobile tower built near them and hence cannot make use of the service. As for mobile reception on major highways, such as Taif-Riyadh, Riyadh-Dammam or Madinah-Tabuk, that are used by thousands of motorists every day, it is a joke. The signal goes and comes every 30 to 40 kilometers in some cases and in other cases there is no signal at all.
As for trying to make a call on the eve of Eid to a relative or friend, you might as well not bother or wait till you get home to make a call from your landline to their landline. Last year, on the eve of Eid, the mobile service in most cities of the Kingdom was jammed because the system was handling millions of calls and SMS text messages all at once.
STC of course came out bravely the next day and defended itself saying that the incident was normal due to the overflow of capacity in bandwidth. I wonder if it ever occurred to STC to use just a small chunk of the billions it had ripped off from the public to expand the bandwidth so our lives could be a little more convenient.
