Increasing Broadband Internet Penetration
In the OIC Member Countries
132
Pricing of mobile broadband plans is currently more advantageous than fixed broadband,
thereby creating an additional incentive to fixed mobile substitution (see table 69).
Table 69: Saudi Arabia: Fixed – Mobile Plan Pricing (2016) Prepaid Large Screen
Mobile Broadband
Packages 70 SAR 3GB (1 month) 130 SAR 10 GB (4 months) 300 SAR Unlimited
(3 months)
Postpaid Fixed
Broadband Packages 99 SAR 2 Mbps SAR 149 4 Mbps SAR 199 20 Mbps
Source: Operators websites
Investments in fixed and mobile broadband infrastructureThe annual infrastructure investment in Saudi telecommunications was US$ 2.169 billion in
2014. However, total investment has been consistently declining since 2011 (see table 70)
Table 70: Saudi Arabia: Annual telecommunicatio s Inv stment (2005-2014)
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Annual
Investment
(US$ ‘000’000) 1,927 1,928 2,107 3,031 3,105 3,105 3,372 2,674 2,314 2,169
Annual
Investment
per broadband
subscriber
(US$ PPP)
230.06 207.00 208.65 253.72 303.19 255.54 239.11 181.17 157.54 150.17
Source: International Telecommunications Union; Telecom Advisor Services analysisAs table 70 indicates, the total annual investment per broadband subscriber has been
decreasing from a high point of US$ 303 in 2009 to US$ 150 in 2014. The total investment in
telecommunications infrastructure indicates a gradual shift from fixed telecommunications to
mobile (see table 71).
Table 71: Saudi Arabia: Annual telecommunications Investment (2006-2014)
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Fixed Telecommunications 1,850 1,807 2,262 1,367 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mobile telecommunications 78 300 769 1,738 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Total 1,928 2,107 3,031 3,105 3,105 3,372 2,674 2,314 2,169
Source: International Telecommunications Union; Telecom Advisor Services analysisThe change in capital spending mix is driven by a shift in investment from FTTH to 4G. Due to a
slow-down in demand for high-speed fixed broadband (mentioned above), operators have
reduced their investment in FTTH and focused more on LTE deployment. For example, the
number of incremental homes passed by FTTH networks has declined for the first time in 2015
(see table 72).