An official report said today that the use of internet in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has widely spread in the recent years, surging from 5% in 2001 to 54.1% by the end of 2012. The estimates of the Saudi Commission for Telecommunications and Information Technology said 15.8 million users were navigating their browsers in the Kingdom by the end of last year. The expenditure on communications and information technology was estimated at nearly SR94 billion in 2012 compared to SR21 billion in 2002, a 14% annual growth average, the report added. According to the figures, the number of subscribers in mobile communication services reached 53 milion by the end of 2012 while the pre-paid subscriptions represented the majority by more than 86%, pushing the rate of mobile communication services spread in terms of population to about %181.6%. The report noted that due to linking the using facility of a SIM card with the identity number of its user, the subscription to this service reduced starting the third quarter of 2012 as several users cancelled their subscription and never updated their data. Fixed telephone lines amounted to 4.8 million lines by the end of 2012, including 3.4 million residential lines, representing 70% of the total operating lines. Hence, the rate of fixed telephone lines spread among population amounted to 16.4% and for residences to 67.6%, the figuers said. The commission expected more and more increase on demand of internet services in the coming few years. It explained that the number of subscribers in the overall wide-range mobile communication network services amounted to 12.28 million by the end of 2012, representing a spread of 42.1% in terms of population. The growth rate in this service was 40.8% by the end of 2012, the report said, adding that there were some 2.54 million persons benefiting from it. Expenditure on information technology represents 30% of the overall expenditure size, the commission said, adding that its size of expenditure on communication and information technology services is expected to grow by more than 10% in 2013. The communications and information technology services market is the Middle East's largest in terms of capital value and expenditure size, acquiring a share of 70% of the size of this sector in the Arab Gulf market with capital investments worth SR135 billion in the last ten years. The revenues of communication companies in the Kingdom and outside were estimated at SR90 billion by the end of 2012, the report said.
