Saudi Minister of Communications reviews goals of digital transformation for 2022

Abdullah Al-Sawaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology

Abdullah Al-Sawaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), confirmed that the Kingdom's goal for the next stage is to shift from the national digital building and empowerment to a digital economy, which requires new leadership methods for implementation.

He added that MCIT used to rely on the main performance indicators, such as bridging the digital gap, through providing them by 84-95%. Meanwhile, the ministry will work on measuring the performance in 2022, which means moving to the main goals and results so that the team knows the relevant goal.

The latest World Bank indicators confirmed that every 1% increase in bridging the digital gap has a positive relationship to the gross domestic product (GDP) growth from 0.5% to 1%, which is the optimal method for the digital economic growth.

Al-Sawaha stressed that the ministry will focus on the deployment of optical fibers in places with high population density, as this helps achieve creativity and innovation, through the expansion of the 5G network and smart cities.

The building of a solid infrastructure for the digital economy (known as economies of agglomeration), is also targeted, which helps create entrepreneurial companies and an integrated digital economy, the minister said.

He confirmed that the ministry is also working to make the Kingdom among the top 10 digital economies, which requires 6% growth in telecommunications and a 12% rise in the technology market. This also requires an increase in the number of jobs to 25,000.