Zain Saudi Arabia has announced the successful completion of the first USF Broadband project for high-speed internet in remote areas of the Kingdom well ahead of its scheduled date. More than 147,000 citizens and expats are expected to benefit from this project. The project will also contribute to facilitating e-Government services and accelerating efforts toward achieving digital transformation.

This project is one of several similar projects launched by the CITC to provide high-speed internet services to all KSA regions. The project serves 25,323 residential houses and commercial sites. This is one of the objectives of the telecommunications sector linked to Vision 2030.

In this regard, His Excellency Dr. Abdulaziz bin Salem AlRuwais, Governor of CITC, emphasized that the Authority places great importance on this project, especially as it is one of several similar projects launched by the Authority in its strategy to provide high speed Internet services across all KSA regions, which is a part of the strategic objectives of the telecommunications sector.

His Excellency stated that the successful completion of the project will be reflected in the development of the technical infrastructure in the Kingdom, and will accelerate the provision of USF projects, including high-speed Internet access, to citizens and expats in remote areas.

On the other hand, Eng. Sultan bin Abdulaziz AlDeghaither, Chief Operating Officer of Zain Saudi Arabia, expressed great pride over this extraordinary achievement. This achievement is an important indicator of the development of the technologies used by Zain Saudi Arabia and its partners in this project, adding that the company is actively focusing on contributing effectively to the digital transformation of the Kingdom and working with the relevant authorities to implement initiatives that will contribute to achieving the objectives of Vision 2030.

Eng. AlDeghaither added that the project was launched in April 2017. More than 52% of the project requirements for the first phase were completed by July, and the project was finalized in October.

"Along with speed of execution, the high level of attention to quality of implementation is always a prime focus at Zain Saudi Arabia.”

He went on to say that Zain Saudi Arabia’s implementation of the project has included the upgrading of a number of sites in remote areas to 4G (LTE) services, in addition to incorporating state-of-the-art technologies to new sites. Moreover, the project also served to increase the populated area coverage in the designated areas. That included 129 residential and commercial communities for 13 different governorates. AlDeghaither also noted the confidence exhibited by CITC towards Zain Saudi Arabia by selecting the latter to implement this project.

The project includes the provision of high-speed internet services to towns, centers and villages in various areas of the Kingdom, as well as increasing wireless networks coverage to reach 70% of the population in remote areas by the year 2020. CITC Board of Directors agreed to award of the first project to Zain Saudi Arabia, following tendering the project to eligible companies.

In addition to subsidizing the project, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology will supervise the project's executing companies.