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Saudi telecom, IT spending to hit $28bn

Jeddah, August 15, 2014

Saudi Arabia’s telecom and IT spend is set to reach SR108.7 billion ($28.9 billion) this year, an increase of six per cent as compared to SR102.6 billion last year, said a report.

An IDC market research firm study found that in the past 13 years (2001 to 2013), telecom and IT spending in the kingdom reached SR731.5 billion, an average of SR56.3 billion per year, said the Arab News report.

The continued growth in the telecom and IT sector is represented in growing number of IT services, which were made available to the public, notably in the areas of e-government, banking and health care services, it said.

Within the last ten years, Saudi Arabian IT companies narrowed IT gap with the developed countries and as from 2005, they have injected huge investments in the IT infrastructure projects in a number of fields such as mobile, fixed-line networks, IT facilities and e-government, the study said.

Meanwhile, telecom operators in the kingdom were among the first global companies to introduce Long Term Evolution (LTE), or 4G, technology, it said.

The rapid implementation of fibre optic networks has increased the number of subscribers to broadband services, with respect to fixed-line networks, said the report.

In the last five years, e-government has experienced quality developments where the majority of ministries and government agencies have launched e-services to both citizens and residents and all banks were linked up with government departments to facilitate payment services, it added.




Tags: Telecom | Saudi | IDC | IT | Spend |

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