The Governor, of the Saudi Communications Commission, with the powers he holds, and pursuant to what was stated in the Telecommunications Act, its Bylaw, and the Ordinance of the Saudi Communications Commission, and after reviewing the request for comments issued from the Commission on 26/10/1423H to the concerned parties represented in the Saudi Telecommunications Company, Saudi Global star Operations Co. Ltd. and Thuraya Co. for Space Telecommunications on matters related to regulation of the Global Mobile Personal Communications Service (GMPCS) currently provided in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the comments received from concerned parties and after reviewing the Items stated in the Service Provider Agreement concluded between the Saudi Telecommunications Company and the Saudi Global star Operations Co. Ltd. on 07/05/1422H and in the Agreement concluded between the Saudi Telecommunications Company and Thuraya Co. for Space Telecommunications on 24/01/1423H and the provisions of aspects related to Roaming, Interconnection and the prices stated in these two Agreements or other Agreements concluded between the Saudi Telecommunications Company and any of these two Companies and in accordance with the work benefit requirements,
(Decides the following):
Article One:
The Saudi Communications commission will undertake the responsibility of regulating provisioning of Global Mobile Personal Communications Service (GMPCS) as of the date of issuance of this Decision, pursuant to the Telecommunications Act, its Bylaw, and the Ordinance of the Saudi Communications Commission and the provisioning of this service shall continue in accordance with the concluded current Agreements within a transitory period basically determined by six months from the date of issuance of this Decision and the Commission shall issue the necessary licenses by the end of the transitory period in a manner that ensures the provisioning of the service in a competitive atmosphere and satisfying the technical, legal and commercial requirements of this service.
Article Two:
The following provisions will take effect on the existing and concluded Agreements before the issuance of the Telecommunications Act and its Bylaw between the Saudi Telecommunications Company, Saudi Global star Operations Co. Ltd. and Thuraya Co. for Space Telecommunications to provide these services during the transitory period:
- The work shall continue with the Service Provider Agreement concluded between the Saudi Telecommunications Company and the Saudi Global star Operations Co. Ltd. on 07/05/1422H and also the Interconnection agreement and the Roaming Agreement with its same existing terms and conditions
- The work shall continue with the Agreement concluded between the Saudi Telecommunications Company and the Thuraya Co. for Space Telecommunications on 24/01/1423H with its same existing terms and conditions
- The Saudi Telecommunications Company, Saudi Global star Operations Co. Ltd. and Thuraya Co. for Space Telecommunications during the transitory period shall work to finalize the terms of the Agreements concluded between them which deal with the regulatory aspects related to service provisioning where they will be replaced by the Licenses that will be issued by the Commission by the end of the transitory period
- The Saudi Telecommunications Company, Saudi Global star Operations Co. Ltd. and Thuraya Co. for Space Telecommunications during the transitory period shall work to update the terms of the Agreements that deal with aspects related to Interconnection and roaming and reformulate them to comply with the Telecommunications Act and its Bylaw
- The Saudi Telecommunications Company, Saudi Global star Operations Co. Ltd. and Thuraya Co. for Space Telecommunications shall submit to the Commission the results reached in regard to Clauses Three and Four of this Article enclosed with the final agreements draft before the end of the transitory period, to be reviewed by the Commission in the light of the Licenses determined to issue in preparation for signature between the concerned parties
Article Three:
The Saudi Communications Commission, during the transitory period, shall take all arrangements necessary for organizing the provisioning of this service pursuant to the Telecommunications Act and its Bylaw, including the preparation of request for public comments, License procedures and conditions for this service, documents organizing it, determining the charges and all other legal arrangements for issuance of Licenses for this service and the Commission will notify all the concerned parties by any changes that occur to duration of the transitory period.
Article Four:
The Saudi Telecommunications Company and the concerned parties are hereby informed of this decision, which is effective as of the date of its issuance.
Eng. Mohammad J. A. Mulla
Governor, Saudi Communications Commission
