| Saudi Arabia to liberalise telecoms |
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| Tuesday, 19 April 2005 | |
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In 2005, Saudi Arabia will further liberalise the telecommunications sector as part of its economic reforms, Abdulrahman al-Tuwaijri, secretary general of Saudi Arabia's Supreme Economic Council said.
“Next year, we will award the third mobile phone license as well as the second landline telephone license," said Tuwaijri. The council is responsible for supervising and implementing the privatisation programme. Saudi Telecom was partly privatised in 2002. It faces competition in the mobile phone sector from a new operator led by the United Arab Emirates' Etisalat, which was licensed in 2004. Saudi Arabia cannot achieve its privatisation objectives without continuous and swift reform and the restructuring of its economy, Tuwaijri said. "With our commitment to privatisation and creating an environment that is even more attractive to private investment, stronger growth in the private sector and more inflow of foreign direct investment are expected," Tuwaijri said. Source: Agence France-Presse |