The Board of Grievances has ordered the country’s telecommunications regulatory authority to allow Mobily to offer free roaming services to its customers, a move welcomed here by many people.

Mobily had taken the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) to court over its decision to ban local service providers — which includes STC and Zain — from offering customers free roaming.

The court also ordered the CITC to lift the SR 500,000 fine it had slapped on Mobily for continuing to offer its free service, according to a report published yesterday. The CITC can appeal the decision.

The Shoura Council had also recently asked the CITC to allow telecommunication companies to provide free roaming services to their subscribers abroad, but to take certain security measures. The Shoura Council is reportedly planning to invite the governor of the CITC to have further discussions on the issue.

Kamal Mustafa, an Egyptian, said: “The decision to revoke the free roaming service by the CITC was not a wise one, especially for STC and other mobile companies, because customers will move to other firms such as Vodafone. The Kingdom’s telephone companies will then lose out.”

He said that a ban on free roaming would affect seven million Egyptians — 2 million living and working in the Kingdom and five million in Egypt.

Mohamed H. Zakaria, CEO and general manager of Saudi Steel Profile Company, said people have a number of problems abroad if they do not have the free roaming service.

“They have to buy a local number to make calls and use their Saudi number to receive calls, which creates a lot of problems. If Mobily can offer a free roaming service then it means STC can also do the same. They are making a lot of money, so it will not harm them to provide this small service to their customers,” said Zakaria. He said STC had already lost a number of customers, with Mobily now becoming the front-runner in the Kingdom.

Niqab Khan, director of ABTC company, said: “The decision to revoke the free international roaming service can create many problems, especially for businessman like me. If your balance is finished while you’re abroad and you need to connect with your base you will have problems. If this service is provided free of charge by all telephone companies, it would be better and conducive for economic growth.”

Muneera Al-Sudairi, a Saudi national, said a number of people have already changed from STC to Mobily because of their excellent services. “This is all about money. We believe that if we have more telephone companies in the Kingdom the telephone service will become better. These companies should compete with each other to provide the best services, not ban services.”

Fatima Mohammed, a school teacher, said the Shoura Council was right to order the CITC to allow companies to offer these services free.

Arab News also recently reported that the Consumer Protection Association (CPA) is planning to take the CITC to court for banning the free service.