A significant hike in Saudi Arabia’s communication-related industries last year can be traced back to the coronavirus pandemic raising the need for distance communication. Mobile telecommunication services in the Kingdom witnessed an astonishing 135.5% increase in 2020.
Saudi Arabia’s telecommunications, information technology (IT) and postal markets were valued at SR246 billion ($65.6 billion) in 2020, according to data from the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC).
The Kingdom’s telecommunications market reached SR70 billion in the same period, with Mohammed bin Saud Al-Tamimi, CITC’s governor, describing it as the most developed in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Commenting on the 2020 statistics at the annual Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Indicators Forum in Riyadh, Al-Tamimi said the information technology market was valued at SR64 billion, while the postal market stood at SR6.4 billion.
More so, the estimated market value of telecom companies reached SR246 billion.
Al-Tamimi said the Kingdom’s IT and postal sectors account for 5.5% of its GDP.
Saudi Arabia has been investing heavily in its digital infrastructure as it seeks to diversify its income sources, veering away from oil dependence.
Al-Tamimi revealed that the number of homes connected to the optical fiber network reached over 3.5 million and the 5th generation networks exceeded 12,000 towers in more than 51 cities and governorates across the Kingdom, noting that Saudi Arabia became among the top ten countries in the world in mobile Internet speed.
More than 60,000 free Wi-Fi spots are located in public places across the Kingdom, he revealed.
