His Excellency the Governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), Dr. Mohammad bin Saud Al-Tamimi, gave the opening remarks at the annual ICT Indicators Forum, which was titled: “Digital Economy: Horizons of Opportunities". Dr. Al-Tamimi highlighted the progress of KSA's ICT and Postal market, estimating the market size at 140 Billion Saudi Riyals.
His Excellency considered the ICT market in the Kingdom to be the most growing and mature market in the Middle East and North Africa. As the size of the telecom market in the Kingdom was estimated at 70 billion riyals, the size of the information technology market at 64 billion riyals, and the size of the postal market by 6.4 billion riyals. While estimates of the market value of telecommunications companies reached 246 billion riyals. His Excellency added that the telecommunications and information technology sector, along with the postal sector, which has recently joined the commission's mandate, contributes up to 5.5% of the Kingdom's GDP.
The Kingdom's ICT market has made huge leaps in the past 3 years, as the digital infrastructure investments exceeded 15 billion dollars. While the number of Saudi homes connected with fiber optics reached more than 3.5 million.
As for 5G technologies, the number of 5G towers reached 12,000 towers in more than 51 Saudi cities around the Kingdom, which prompted the Kingdom's ranking among the top 10 countries in the average mobile download speed, according to Speedtest Global Index.
The forum was attended by His Excellency the Assistant Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Dr. Munir Al-Desouki, and His Excellency the Director The National Information Center, Dr. Essam Al-Waqit. As well as leaders of telecom and postal companies in the Kingdom, and a number of experts in the ICT and postal sector.
This year's annual ICT Indicators Forum focused on the digital economy as a pivotal component of the future industry. The forum also discussed performance indicators, post-pandemic status, and strategic direction for the ICT and postal sector.
