Page 75 - SAMENA Trends - June-July 2025

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

CST: SAR180 Billion is the Size of the Communications and Technology Market

in 2024

With the attendance of the Acting Governor of
Communications and Technology Commission,
CST revealed the size of the communications
and technology market reaching (180B) riyals
during 2024, with annual compound growth
rate of 7.5% over the past five years. This
announcement came during the 11th edition of
the ICT Indicators Forum 2025, held in Riyadh,
which was attended by elite experts and sector
leaders, and featured five main presentations
and a panel discussion reviewing the financial
performance of the Kingdom's communications
and technology sector. The forum began with
a presentation on performance indicators for
the telecommunications and technology sector
delivered by Eng. Thamer AlKhwaiter, General
Manager of Regulations in CST. He revealed that
the median mobile internet speed has reached
129 Mbps, placing the Kingdom 4th among G20
countries for 2024. Mobile telecommunications
subscriptions have reached 68.2 million, with an
annual growth rate of 7%. The presentation also
disclosed that the Space market size in 2024 has
reached approximately 7.1 B SAR. It also featured
a presentation by Mr. Ranjit Rajan, VP of Research
for META at IDC, titled "Tech Transformation
in Saudi Arabia in the AI Era“ where he unveiled
the most notable figures related to the
communications and technology market in the
Kingdom, as well as the transformations occurred
in Cloud Computing, artificial intelligence (AI)
and other aspects. During the forum's third
presentation, Al Jazira Capital's Research Head,
Mr. Jassim AlJubran delivered a comprehensive
financial analysis of the sector. His presentation
"ICT Sector Financial Performance in Arqaam
" disclosed that the total assets of ICT listed
companies in the Kingdom have reached 255B
SAR, while their total revenues amounted to 128B
SAR, and their market cap has reached 427B SAR.
The forum included a panel discussion examining
the financial performance of the sector in Arqaam,
with participation from Mr. Jassim AlJubran, Head
of Research Al Jazira Capital, Mr. Mohammed
Aljbali, VP of Investor Relations at Mobily, and
Mr. Yazan bin Ibrahim Al-Turki, Vice President
of Budgeting and Financial Planning at Etihad
Atheeb Telecom Company (GO). In a presentation
titled "Mobile Communications: Realistic presentation, delivered by Eng. Musaab as well as indicators and information
Indicators and Future Development Insights” Mr. Alammar, Director - Internet Techs related to user patterns, behaviors,
Amr Hashem, Policy Director of MENA at GSMA, Development Dept. at CST, unveiled and preferences. The report also
revealed Saudi Arabia’s leadership in mobile the 4th edition of the "Saudi Internet reviews the most used and downloaded
connectivity, and the significant progress made Report 2024," which addresses internet applications, in addition to data
in accelerating 5G deployment. The forum's final usage in the Kingdom and its growth, consumption rates per individual.

75 JUNE-JULY 2025