Saudi Arabia’s four telecoms operators have said that the country’s new licensing system will be positive for their business.
Saudi Telecom (STC), Zain KSA, Etihad Atheeb Telecom and Etihad Etisalat, known as Mobily, all issued statements to the Saudi stock market yesterday, after the country’s communications and information technology commission extended the licences of all operators by 15 years, charging a fee of 5 per cent of annual net incomes.
Zain KSA said that the licence extension would reduce the company’s annual amortisation charge by 433 million Saudi riyals (Dh423.9m), starting from the date of the extension. Atheeb said the new licence would reduce the company’s annual costs by 9.7m riyals.
Mobily, part owned by the UAE’s Etisalat, said that the licence extension would boost its finances by up to 260m riyals per year.
STC meanwhile said that it did not expect the extension of the duration of its licence to have a material impact on its finances.
The CITC has said that the new arrangement will give all four operators unified licences, enabling them to offer landline telephone and internet services as well as mobile services, breaking the fixed-line monopoly of Saudi Telecom.
Zain KSA and Atheeb said that while the new unified licences would offer positive opportunities for future services, it was too early to tell what the financial effect of such services would be.
STC, which is already licensed to offer fixed and mobile services, said the unified licence was "expected to provide positive opportunities for the company in terms of the ability to provide new products to their customers", but it said that the terms of the licence required further study to determine the exact financial impact.
Source: http://www.thenational.ae/business/telecoms/saudi-telcos-welcome-new-unified-licensing-system