H.E. Eng. Abdulrahman AlFadley, Minister of Environment, Water, and Agriculture, and H.E. Eng. Abdullah Alswaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Communications, Space, and Technology Commission (CST) and the Water Regulator in the Water Regulator's headquarter in Riyadh, which relies on innovative solutions that increase the benefit of infrastructure, with the goal of utilizing the current infrastructure of the National Water Company (NWC) to extend fiber optics, to enable and accelerate the deployment of the fibers in the Kingdom, which will contribute to the time, cost, and quality of the provided services while ensuring continuity of service for users and integration between parties to serve the public interest.
During the signing ceremony, the National Water Company was represented by H.E. Eng. Mansour Al Mushaiti, Vice Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture and Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Water Regulator, while the Communications, Space, and Technology Commission was represented by H.E Dr. Mohammad Altamimi, CST Governor.
The MOU will assist the parties' efforts in maximizing the benefit of water sector infrastructure to expand fiber optics coverage in the Kingdom, exchanging information and support based on each party's area of expertise in order to find an effective fiber optics extending mechanism. It is expected to improve telecom infrastructure and provide fiber optics to homes by sustaining infrastructure, lowering network delivery costs, increasing user access, innovating solutions to improve service quality, and reducing drilling and extending impacts.
CST is the Kingdom's regulator for communications, space and technology and is in charge of monitoring and utilizing the sector's technologies and services, whereas the water regulator is responsible for organizing water service activities in the water system.
Source: https://www.cst.gov.sa/en/mediacenter/pressreleases/Pages/2023012901.aspx