CITC and Arthur D Little: Deregulation and Liberalisation of the Saudi Telecom Sector (A)

Abstract

This is the first of a two-case series (309-172-1 and 309-264-1). In 2002, the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), the Saudi Arabian telecommunications regulator, issued the second mobile services licence in the country to Ettihad Etisalat, a United Arab Emirates-based telecommunications services company. This was Saudi Arabia''s first step towards the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector. The demand for telecommunications was strong, but development and deployment of new services lagged behind this demand. The government''s plan was to attract further multinational players into the country by awarding more licences for mobile and fixed line service providers by 2006. Arthur D Little, a global management consulting firm, was hired by CITC in 2006 to assist in the deregulation process of the Saudi telecommunications market. This case highlights the key concerns and challenges that CITC faced between choosing long-term investments for building a telecommunications infrastructure within Saudi Arabia, and providing increasing consumer choices in a country that was experiencing a rapidly growing consumer demand for these services.