Saudi Telecom Communications (STC) strengthens its global positioning and reaches some impressive milestones

STC is now officially the largest telecom's business in both Saudi Arabia *(1) and the GCC* (2) and is one of the top 15 most profitably telecom operators in the world.

Over the years pricing and value for money have had a huge impact on the market.

In a recent marketing study carried out of the 31 providers in the Arab world and GCC, STC was deemed the best value for money as it only charges customers by the second. Good news for customers as they can now save up to 30% on their calls against providers who charge per minute.

STC has built the biggest communications network in the Arab world covering most geographical areas reaching 95% of the inhabited areas across KSA. The company has over 6,500 transceiver base stations; this is still growing and operates 3.5 million landlines. STC also rents its services and infrastructure to their main competitor and biggest customer, Mobily. It offers Mobily customers roaming services when they are not in a coverage area. Mobily utilises the STC infrastructure to assist it to grow further, using over 3,500 base stations and it can now cover more then 3,000 towns in KSA.

The company's president Mr. Kahlid Bin Abdullah Al-Milhim commented yesterday, while visiting the STC stand at GITEX, saying, "This is a great achievement for KSA and a positive turning point for the country's development. Showing the world that STC can compete in on a global level. In our six years since privatisation me have we have grown financially and operationally and are now ready to take the business to the next level. We are committed to further development and growth and will continue to provide the best services to both the consumer and business customer."

The company's growth has been internal too, over 88% of the total work force are Saudi Nationals and recently won an award presented by HRH Prince Naif for the achievements it had made of recruiting approximately 7,500 Saudi nationals in the past six years.

General Manager Eng. Saad Dhafer Al Qahtani also added his comments; "We have had huge successes with our discounting program, which has helped bring more of our services to customers." He continues "STC is very proud of its achievements, its employees and loyal customers without them we would never have achieved so much. We have increased our marketing budget for the forthcoming year and have great marketing plans for each of our brands including: Al Jawal, Al Hatif, Saudi Data and Internet. As a company we are committed to offering our employees and customers only the best services."

With is continuous development of new products, technology and services including: the opening of new customer focused service centers, SAWA its pre-pay option to MMS (Multi Media Messaging) offered without subscriptions fees to all customers. New services include live news on SMS, mobile entertainment and the soon to be launched 3G service, a first for the KSA and only the second to offer the service in the region. STC is definitely leading the way in the field of mobile communication, proving STC's market position as the regional leader and a global player.