RIYADH, 1 August 2005 — In a major move to provide more competitive services to its customers, Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) slashed rates by as much as 40 percent for international calls to more than 200 countries. The announcement follows government approval of the new STC tariffs yesterday.
The international call reductions, approved by the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), take effect today. “The reductions will be applicable to all STC brands and products including Al-Hatif fixed line, Al-Jawal postpaid and prepaid Sawa, public phone services of call cabins, prepaid calling card and card phones,” said Saad Zafer Al-Qahtani, STC’s general manager of corporate communications and marketing support. “The decision is in line with the promises and policies made by STC to provide better services at reasonable prices.”
Under the new plan, billing will become more precise.
“The STC, unlike other telecommunication companies, will charge real-time tariffs, calculating the cost of calls on per-second basis rather on per-minute roundup basis.”
Customers calling Asian countries should notice immediate savings of 30 to 40 percent. “Charges for calls to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Nepal, which account for the largest number of expatriates in the country, have been substantially reduced,” Al-Qahtani said.
Calls from the Kingdom to the Philippines now will cost SR2.90 per minute, down from SR3.70. Indian callers will pay only SR2.40, down from SR3. Calling charges to Sri Lanka have been reduced to SR2.80 per minute and for Pakistan from SR3.70 to SR2.80, with an additional 40 halala savings at off-peak calling times.
The STC will charge SR2.80 per minute for calls to Bangladesh, and calls to Nepal are reduced to SR4.20 per minute. The STC will charge SR1.60 per minute for calls made to any of the six Gulf countries.
Al-Qahtani said the reductions will affect all GCC countries, Egypt, Sudan Syria, Lebanon and Jordan along with a number of other countries.
“This is the third time that international call charges have been slashed for so many countries,” he said.
Calls to EU countries also will be reduced along with calls to the United States and Canada.
“The reductions are part of the company’s policy of conducting regular price reviews to provide competitive and affordable services that meet customers’ requirements,” he said.
The cuts range from a high of 40 percent to a low of five percent and come just seven months after the 15 percent cut in January. For more information on international calling rates, customers can log on to STC website www.stc.com.sa or call Customer Care at 907 or 902 or visit STC to get international price booklet and pocket cards.
