RIYADH: The Saudi Integrated Telecom Company (SITC) is offering 35,000,000 shares, which represent 35 percent of the company's share capital.
The offer price will be SR10 per share, and the subscription period will start on Monday and last till May 8.
As part of the offering, a total of 5,000,000 shares will be allocated to the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI).
The SITC's capital is SR1 billion divided into 100 million shares with a nominal value of SR10 per share, including 65 million shares for the founding shareholders representing 65 percent of the company's share capital.
The official representative and secretary of SITC's board of directors, Hassan Azzee, appreciated the Capital Market Authority for giving approval to SITC's initial public offering (IPO) at a time when Saudi Arabia is experiencing a comprehensive developmental renaissance in all sectors, including telecommunication.
The SITC will provide excellent services in the fixed telecommunication sector, broadband, and interconnection for individuals and business, in addition to other various services, Azzee said.
The main activity of the SITC is to provide fixed and nomadic voice services offered to both consumer and corporate sectors.
The fixed data services are to be offered to corporate sectors.
Fixed and nomadic Internet services will be offered to consumers, corporate sector and IPTV (IP Television), while the entertainment services will be offered mainly to the segment of consumers.
In addition to the infrastructure that will be available from other sister companies, the SITC intends to build an advanced independent infrastructure that serves customers in 45 cities all over the 13 regions of the Kingdom within seven years of operation.
Within seven years of operation, the customers will enjoy a high speed fiber network access that will reach 50 percent of residential and business areas as well as a 4th generation (4G) wireless network utilizing new technologies such as LTE network.
Such a strategic alternative of FTTx installation of optical fiber gives a great opportunity to offer services in "triple run" (voice, data and video) and television services via the Internet (IPTV) and also assist in presenting innovative services to the Kingdom.
The SITC aims not only to build a strong and trustworthy brand name to meet the needs of the Kingdom's regions and even its remote areas, but also deploy advanced network technologies working with global communication solutions providers to expand the scope of international connectivity and services in terms of diversity and coverage.
© Arab News 2011
