RIYADH, 15 November 2005 — Declining international interest in fixed-line phone operations could hurt Saudi Arabia’s plans to issue its second fixed-line license next year, the country’s telecommunications regulator said.
Dr. Mohammed Al-Suwaiyel, governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), said the commission will start preparations for a bidding process by the beginning of January but declined to say when it might be completed. “Worldwide now, fixed-line is not as attractive as mobile,” Suwaiyel told Reuters in an interview on Sunday. “I cannot currently anticipate demand for this license.”
In March Suwaiyel had said a second fixed-line license could be issued by the end of next year, ending the monopoly of Saudi Telecommunications Co. Global oil giant Saudi Arabia has the largest telecommunications market in the Gulf Arab region, with 4 million existing fixed lines and around 12 million mobiles. The figure for mobile users is expected to double within four years.
Analysts had anticipated that a second fixed-line license in would be fiercely fought over. But Suwaiyel said other countries in the region struggled to entice investors. “Morocco’s first offering of the fixed-line licence did not go through - there were no bidders,” he said. “We will start work on it by Jan. 1 but I cannot say when we will be able to finish it. I do not know if it will be attractive enough.”
