Saudi Telecom inks deal to provide services in remote areas

The Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology signed on Nov. 25 an agreement with the Saudi Telecom Company (STC) to implement the third phase of providing broadband services to remote areas, the ministry said in a statement.

The move is part of the Investment Stimulus Initiative for providing telecom and broadband services to rural areas across the Kingdom.

The third phase of the project aims to cover 444,076 houses, providing services to over 2.5 million Saudis and residents in more than 3,000 villages around Riyadh, Qassim, Makkah, Madinah, AlBahah, Tabuk, Jazan, Hail, Asir, and Najran.

“The Investment Initiative for spreading telecom and broadband services in rural areas, is one of the key public-private partnerships aiming to develop digital economy by providing high-speed broadband services (over 10 megabits per second) to cover 70 percent of houses in remote areas by 2020,” communications minister Abdullah Al-Swaha said.

The initiative also facilitates investment in infrastructure, promotes technical and organizational frameworks and supports operators, which in return will implement the project, he added.

The first and second phases of the initiative were completed in July 2018, covering 16 percent of houses in rural areas.