Brief History

The late King Abdul Aziz, may Allah have mercy upon him, had realized the importance of the sector of posts and telecommunications and the necessity of using modern inventions in this sector to link the vast and remote areas of the Kingdom with each other. Accordingly, he issued his royal decree in 1345 H. (1926) for the establishment of the posts, telegraphs and telephones (PTT) Directorate affiliated to the office of the Attorney General under the umbrella of the Kingdom’s internal affairs. Since then, the Saudi government continues to give support and special attention to this sector and its services. Following are the main phases of the history of the telecommunications sector in the Kingdom:

• In 1353 H. (1926), twenty-two wireless stations were installed to connect all towns and villages of the Kingdom with telegraph services.
  
  
• In 1353H.(1934), the number of manually-operated telephones were only 854 lines and they were only in Riyadh, Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah and Taif.
  
  
• In 1372 H. (1952), the Ministry of Communications was established and HRH Prince Talal bin Abudl Aziz was appointed Minister of Communications. All PTT facilities were annexed to the new ministry.
  
  
• In 1395H. (1975), and as a result of the growing significance of the role of telecommunications in the development and advancement of nations and states, a royal decree No. (A/236) was issued on 8/10/1395 H. (24/10/1975) for the establishment of the Ministry of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones (PTT) to be in charge of both sectors of posts and telecommunications. The number of telephone lines at the time was not more than 130,000 lines, and the total revenues of this sector were around 250 million Saudi Riyals.
  
  
• In 1404 H. (1984), the first fiber optic network was operated.  In the same year, telecommunications centers and complexes were established all over the Kingdom.
  
  
• In 1407H. (1986), the King Fahad Satellite Communications City on the Makkah-Jeddah Road got into operation. This city consists of four ground stations to operate with Arabsat, Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean), Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and Inmarsat for naval communications. Among the objectives of this network is to connect the Kingdom with the outside world by communications services.
  
  
• In 1416H. (1995), mobile services came into operation.
    In 1417 H. (1996) the fiber optical cable network was operated in the Kingdom.
  
  
• In 1417 H. (1996), the Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) service was operated.
  
  
• In 1418 H. (1997) the smart net data transfer network was initiated in the Kingdom.
  
  
• In 1418H. (1998), the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Fahad Bin Abdul Aziz, issued a royal decree No. (35/M) on 24/12/1418 H. (22/4/1998) separating the facilities of posts, telegraphs and telephones from the Ministry and the establishment of  a joint-stock Saudi company (the Saudi Telecom Company) to assume the responsibility of the provision of telecommunications services. This company started operation on Muharram 6, 1419 H. (2/5/1998).
  
  
• In 1422H. (2001), the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Fahad Bin Abdul Aziz, issued the royal decree No. (2/12) on 12/3/1422 H. (4/6/2001) and the council of Ministers issued its decision No. 74 on 5/3/1422 H. (28/5/2001) approving the Statute of Telecommunications and the establishment of the Saudi Communications Commission. The name was later (21/5/1422H.-11/8/2001), changed to the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) and was charged with regulating the affairs of this sector to ensure the provision of the best possible telecommunication services all over the Kingdom by companies being licensed in accordance with the Telecommunications Statute.
  
  
• A royal decree No. A/2 was issued on 28/2/1424 H.(1/5/2003) changing the name of the Ministry of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones (MoPTT) to “ the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology”. This change reflects the attention given by the Saudi government to the communications and information technology sector. The change also aims at the realization of the ambitious goals for the transfer to information society.

Following are the ministers of PTT since the inception of the ministry : 

• Dr. Alawi Darweesh Kayyal from 8/10/1390 H. to 2/3/1416 H. (7/12/1970- 30/7/1995).

• Dr. Ali Bin Talal Al-Juhani from 3/3/1416 H. to 16/8/1420 H. (31/7/1995-25/11/1999).

• Khalid Bin Mohammed Al-qosaibi from 17/8/1420 H. to 2/3/1424H. (26/11/1999- 4/5/2003).

• After the Ministry of PTT becomes the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, and effective 3/3/1424 H. (5/5/2003), Engineer Mohamed Jamil bin Ahmed Mulla assumed the post of the minister of Communications and Information Technology.