JEDDAH, 20 June 2006 — Mobile phone subscribers can switch the number they use from one service provider to another without paying any fee, Muhammad Al-Suwaiyel, governor of the Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) announced yesterday.
Al-Suwaiyel said both the primarily state-owned Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and Mobily, the STC’s only competitor, would start providing the new service tomorrow.
“The CITC has reached an agreement with STC and Mobily on the transfer of numbers without incurring any charges on the subscribers,” he said.
Suwaiyel said his organization had taken up the responsibility of establishing and managing a database for the transfer of mobile numbers. He said this facility had helped in expediting provision of the new service.
“Saudi Arabia is the first country in the whole Middle East and Africa to provide the new service,” Suwaiyel said, adding that the service currently available only in 17 countries.
He said the CITC asked the two mobile providers to extend the new service to encourage competition between them.
Suwaiyel said the new facility would also lead to improving the quality of service of both companies and efficiency of their operation as well as to cutting their service charges.
An intense competition has already been set off between the STC and Mobily, the country’s second service provider.
Informed sources at the CITC said despite the presence of Mobily, about 75 percent of the Kingdom’s telecom market remains untapped, offering new investment opportunities. Foreign telecom companies have shown interest in the expanding Saudi market. The STC now boasts 12 million mobile phone subscribers and four million land phone subscribers.
At least 10 consortiums, comprising Saudi and foreign investors as well as specialized international companies, are vying to win the Kingdom’s second land phone license and third mobile phone license, informed sources said.
Most of the companies involved in the new business tie-ups previously competed for the second mobile license in the Kingdom.
A consortium led by UAE telecom giant Etisalat won the second GSM license two years ago.
Etisalat holds 35 percent of Mobily while the rest is floated on the Saudi stock market. Mobily announced its first quarter profit of SR37 million after the number of its subscribers rose to nearly three million within a short time.
Last month the commission announced its intent to issue new licenses for land phones and mobile phones by the end of this year. The timing of the launch for the new licenses was selected on the basis of a study conducted by its consultancy office.
With the issuance of the new licenses, Suwaiyel said the Kingdom’s telecom market would have completely opened up by the end of this year. He said during the past few years, the government had set out a number of regulations to open up the market for competition between Saudi and foreign companies.
