The Saudi Telecom Company (STC) plans to offer new cuts in service charges from this Saturday in order to lure customers before the arrival of the second mobile operator, UAE telecom giant Etisalat, Arab News reported today. STC said it was canceling the annual fee of SR100 for international roaming and the SR100 charge for upgrading pre-paid SAWA service to ordinary mobile. It will also cut by half the charge for changing or reissuing Aljawal chips as well as mobile installation from SR100 to SR50. Saudi Telecom will reduce the monthly subscription charge for WAP and DATA services from SR20 to just SR4. Both services enable clients to follow up local and international news as well as financial market developments through mobiles. The number of STC's mobile subscribers has crossed a record nine million. Referring to the Easynet service, which will enable STC clients to gain access to the Internet without having any user name or password, the company said the service would be available by the middle of this month at the rate of SR3 per hour. Customers need not pay any installation or monthly subscription fee for the service that offers quick access to the global information superhighway. The company had earlier announced that it had started providing Easynet service but the service stopped abruptly. Last month the company reduced charges for local and international calls through land-line phones. Call charges to some countries were brought down by as much as 44 percent. Charges for calls to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, Nepal and Yemen, which account for the largest number of expatriates in the Kingdom, have been substantially reduced, said Saad bin Zafer Al-Qahtani, STC's general manager for corporate communications and marketing support.
