JEDDAH, 22 May 2005 — A number of Shoura Council members have called upon the Telecommunications and Information Technology Commission (TITC), the Kingdom’s telecom regulator, to cut telephone charges, saying the present rates were much higher than those in neighboring countries.
The Shoura members also accused that corruption could be a reason for higher telecom charges, Al-Madinah Arabic daily said. The members presented their views while the 150-member body was discussing the annual report of the Saudi Telecom Company (STC).
The Shoura members also urged the authorities to take steps for providing telecommunication services in remote areas of the country. Land phones are now available only in 16 percent of rural areas, they pointed out.
Shoura members Dr. Abdullah Dahlan and Abdullah Al-Barrak strongly opposed high telecom charges. “The rise in charges at this level means there is something wrong in fixing prices or there is administrative corruption,” they claimed.
The two called for serious measures to bring down prices and urged TITC to present a report on this matter to the consultative body. The Shoura will discuss the proposals of the members in the next regular session, the paper said quoting a TITC source.
