Telecommunication sector in Saudi Arabia – statistics & facts

In an increasingly technology-dependent society, spending on telecommunication infrastructure is vital to meet the evolving demands of consumers. In the Middle East and North Africa region, the spending on communication services was expected to reach around 121 billion U.S. dollars by 2022.
The telecom market in Saudi Arabia started expanding soon after liberalization in 2003. The country successfully built a competitive telecom market thanks to government support and foreign investment. The telecom industry is rapidly changing in terms of technological developments, service delivery, competitive landscape, and services expansion in the non-traditional telecom services section.

Saudi Arabia infrastructure

Saudi Arabia is among the top ten countries worldwide with a high internet penetration rate. In 2022, the vast majority of the population in Saudi Arabia were mobile internet users. With a young population and high internet penetration levels, the growing use of technology has led to increasing demand for information communication technology (ICT) services. Saudi Arabia’s telecom and ICT sectors benefit from a range of programs aimed at diversifying the economy away from a dependence on oil, and creating a wider digital transformation over the next decade. Fiber infrastructure construction has supported the Kingdom in developing one of the fastest internet services in the region. The leading mobile market players include Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Mobily, and Zain KSA. The market capitalization value of STC exceeded 194 billion Saudi Riyals in 2022.

State of 5G

 
Saudi Arabia’s push to develop 5G infrastructure helped it rank high within the Gulf Cooperation Council region to achieve strong growth in speed, video experience, and network availability. In 2022, the Kingdom reached around 28.5 percent 5G availability, ranking third after Bahrain and Kuwait. This reflects Saudi Arabia’s rapid growth in the 5G sector as it continues to expand its digital infrastructure with private companies. The Kingdom aims to adopt advanced technologies to enhance the 5G experience. STC has increased its 5G infrastructure using an additional 5G spectrum to become the first operator in the Middle East and North Africa region to enable 5G carrier aggregation technology. This upgrade is expected to boost the 5G network capacity up to 60 percent and improve download speeds for subscribers.