The number of Internet users in the Kingdom reached 18.3 million this year. Subsequently, there is an increased demand for Internet and broadband connection services (both mobile and home-based). Due to this, subscriptions for broadband services across mobile networks in the Kingdom have continued to increase during 2014 to complement this, reaching approximately 20.7 million subscriptions so far this year.
The most common subscriptions include data services, voice communication services and data packages, thus reflecting the dramatic increase in smartphone ownership and usage in recent years. Additionally, the number of subscribers to mobile communications services reached 51 million by the middle of 2014, with the percentage of prepaid subscriptions amounting to 87.1 percent. According to a report released by the Communications and Information Technology Commission, approximately 4.7 million fixed landlines will have been installed by the end of 2014. The report indicated an expected continuous demand for Internet services over the next few years as a result of the availability of high speed fiber optic networks (FTTx), in addition to the proliferation of smartphones in Saudi society.
The demand for broadband services has also significantly increased in the aftermath of increased government support for high-tech projects, which requires good digital infrastructure, as well as the widespread availability of Internet services for social networking, business applications, word processing, software protection tools and entertainment.
Source: http://www.zawya.com/story/Number_of_Web_users_in_KSA_exceeds_18_million-ZAWYA20141024044356/
