If you conduct business in, or with, Saudi Arabia,
you will have noticed many changes over the
last two years. The economy is opening up,
trade is developing and multinational companies
are developing links with Saudi businesses
across a range of sectors.
     Yet you might not have recognized some of
the greatest changes that have taken place.
For there is a quiet revolution going on in our
telecommunications sector; a range of develop-
ments that is bringing real improvements to
the way that businesses and individuals can
communicate with, and in, the Kingdom.
     Connections are quicker and clearer, the
mobile phone network has wider coverage
and greater capacity, and tariffs for business
and international calls are falling. In short,
it is becoming easier to communicate with
Saudi Arabia.
     It is a process that is being led by Saudi Telecom, created as a new company two
years ago out of the Government Ministry. Our vision is to create a new, customer-focused
service for Saudi Arabia, investing in infrastructure and service improvements to bring truly
world-class telecoms to the Kingdom.
     In only two years, we have managed to take great steps towards that goal. We have
added more than 800,000 new landlines to the network, increasing digital line capa-
bilities by 150 percent and adding remote areas to the network. Customers are enjoying
an average 10 percent drop in telephone costs.
     We have connected more than half a million new GSM subscribers. Connection times
have fallen from months to only a matter of days and new GSM subscribers can realistically
expect to be connected within an hour of purchase, rather than the weeks it previously took.
     To put some of these figures in perspective, we have connected more new subscribers
in the last 12 months than was achieved by the Ministry in the 10 years before Saudi Telecom
was set up as a company.
     The changes go beyond new lines, however. We are working to build a company that
has a true customer focus in its operations and that means restructuring to give the right
balance of strategic, business, marketing, customer-interface, and technology elements.
     What does that mean for business? It means getting the basics right – with greater
capacity, lower tariffs and better customer service whilst investing in new technologies and
services, such as Internet delivery, wireless applications and better data services.
     We certainly do not underestimate the large and complex job before us, but it is
achievable.
     The telecoms sector will open up to new competition over the coming months
and years. Our job is to be ready for that new competition by offering a world-class,
customer-focused service.
     Telecommunications is a tool that, perhaps more than any other brings nations
and therefore businesses – together. For many, it is the lifeblood of commerce in the global economy.
     Saudi Arabia needs world-class telecommunications if it is to succeed in
developing trade. Saudi Telecom is the company that can make that process happen.

President, Saudi Telecom