In the sixth Global Information Technology Report 2006-2007, recently issued by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Saudi Arabia was dropped from the list of the most advanced countries in IT and telecoms. The kingdom also received a poor ranking within the American Brown University e-government index and the British EIU index.
The WEF report stated that Saudi Arabia's poor infrastructure slowed down the kingdom's movement and made it unable to catch up with other developed countries. According to the report, Saudi Arabia lacked network readiness to leverage its IT growth, while the United Arab Emirates ranked 29 and Qatar 36.
Media shortage
With fierce competition between foreign operators in the Saudi market, the government has to repair its infrastructure and prepare it for the coming era.
Commenting on WEF report, Basel Al Jabr, member of the Telecommunications and Information Technology Committee at Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry and President of Interactive Saudi Arabia, claimed the kingdom wasn't mentioned because it failed to update the report's authors on progress. He said little attention is given to global classifications, despite their importance.
"The kingdom has been employing the latest technologies in the IT field to improve services and increase efficiency and productivity. And all this comes within the kingdom's plans to shift into an information society. Early in 2006, SR3bn ($802m) were allocated for the five-year e-Government project in the Kingdom,' Al Jabr says.
Osama Al Sabeg, CEO of Saudi Networkers Services (SNS), agreed that the Saudi infrastructure has seen strong growth, with fixed and mobile infrastructure milestones being hit during the last four years.
"In 1998 we had to apply for telephone lines and then wait for a long time before receiving approval and of course we also had to pay high fees. But now the line is provided in a few minutes and it's almost free of charge.'
Broadband internet speeds are increasing in homes and offices, and penetration is expected to reach 30 per cent once WiMax technology is completely adopted within the next two years.
Getting connected
According to World Stats, the number of internet users in Saudi Arabia reached 4.7 million during 2007, compared to 2.5 million users in 2005. The average internet speed in the kingdom is 500Kbps, but Mobily and MTC provide the Fiji service, which gives higher speed up to 3.5Mbps.
"Saudi cities are linked to each other through optical fibers and it's often harder for connection to reach when it gets to the last mile, through which homes or offices get connected. This is because the network is very old and the wires antiquated due to the high temperature in the region. This is something that requires a lot of work," said Al Sabeg.
Some industry analysts expect Arab countries to invest around $90bn in network development during the coming 10 years. As for Saudi Arabia, it has granted two new licenses to specialised IT companies in the last three years in order to build its own networks and provide the services citizens need.
The Saudi government has also developed and supported a special programme to provide every home in Saudi Arabia with a computer. It has reduced the cost of broadband packages and increased speeds up to 4Mbps. Once WiMax is introduced, speeds should leap, again to around 20Mbps.
Opening the market
The number of mobile subscribers in Saudi Arabia is the highest in the region. This has transformed STC into a company with one of the highest market values.
In a quest to develop its telecoms services, Saudi Arabia made the decision to open its markets and allow competitiveness. Al Sabeg believes this will lead to improved services as it encourages companies to develop competitive services and products.
This also motivates companies to look for regional and global expansion, and this is what the Saudi Telecom Company has done, through acquisitions elsewhere.
For Al Sabegh, this is a sign that companies have started to understand the importance of expanding into foreign markets and this will give them great experience and rooms for more growth.
And Saudi market will certainly benefit from that.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Darine Wehbi
Quelle/Source: AME Info, 24.10.2007
