Saudi Arabia’s telecom market is worth $17 billion, according to Mohammad Altamani, the governor at the Communications and Information Technology Commission. This makes the Saudi telecom industry the biggest in the Middle East.
He revealed that the telecom market in Saudi Arabia has grown substantially during the last five years.
With the telecom industry in Saudi Arabia launching 5G services in the kingdom, the market is only expected to grow.
The Saudi Telecom Company launched 5G services in the kingdom by partnering with technology giant Ericsson. By doing so, Saudi Telecom Company became the first telco in Saudi Arabia to launch 5G services in the country.
Earlier this year, Kuwait-based telecommunications company, Zain Group also launched the Middle East region’s largest 5G network in Saudi Arabia. Zain KSA, the group’s regional division will deploy 5G services through its network of 2,000 towers across 20 Saudi cities in the first phase. This will gradually expand to 2,600 towers across 26 Saudi cities by the end of 2019.
The move is expected to help Saudi Arabia realise its digital transformation goals specified in the Saudi Vision 2030, the country’s plan to reduce its dependence on oil by diversifying its economy.
Recently, Zain Group also launched its first 5G roaming services in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, first in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Earlier this year, the Communications and Information Technology Commission also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to promote collaboration in the telecommunications sector.
According to the deal, both the ministry will collaborate on human capital development and also on the development of telecommunications infrastructure.