Beirut (APD) - In the intent to attract one million digital subscriber line (DSL) high-speed internet customers by end of 2007, Saudi Arabia initiated a 37% reduction of DSL connection and operational fees, the Saudi-based Al Iqtisadiya daily reported on Wednesday.
After getting the approval of Saudi Arabia's Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), Saudi Telecom (STC) started offering low rates on internet connections to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the Kingdom, the paper said without naming the day of the new fee schedule going into effect.
A source at Saudi Telecom told APD on Thursday that the DSL initiation fees depend on the number of megabytes, with an average of SR 300 per line. Subscribers pay the company a bi-monthly fee of SR 90 for the service.
It is estimated that the total number of DSL subscriptions in Saudi Arabia, a nation of over 26 million residents, reached 80,000. STC is currently installing around 3,500 lines weekly, estimating the DSL subscriber's base to reach 500,000 by year end and one million by end of 2007.
Through its development strategy, Saudi Arabia set a target to create the biggest DSL network in the region by the end of 2007.
According to Al Iqtisadiya, more than 500 technicians are currently working on connecting, operating and maintaining the DSL network in the Kingdom. New orders are continuously being received and served by companies such as the French Alcatel, Chinese firm Huawei, and the San Francisco-based Cisco Systems.
A report by US-Saudi Arabian Business Council, released in June 2005, said that the total number of Saudi internet users last year exceeded 2.2 million, up from 350,000 users in 2001, and the number of subscribers reached almost 900,000.
King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) was responsible for the coordination and management of initial internet services between 1998 and 2003. In January 2003, the CITC took over all regulatory control of internet services in the Kingdom.
Individuals, companies, organizations and government agencies other than universities are required to subscribe through one of the 21 licensed ISPs in the Kingdom.
Latest data produced for a February/March meeting by industry consortium, DSL Forum, showed the Middle East and Africa region as achieving an overall increase in the DSL subscriber base by 112.5% in 2005, to nearly three million subscribers. [TS]
By Mirna Sleiman, APD Staff Writer in Beirut
© APD (Arab Press Digest) 2006
