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Saudi Arabia Telecoms Report 2017: Mobile Network Upgrades, Fiber Expansion and Digital Transformation to Remain Key Focus Areas for Operators - Research and Markets
[July 11, 2017]

Saudi Arabia Telecoms Report 2017: Mobile Network Upgrades, Fiber Expansion and Digital Transformation to Remain Key Focus Areas for Operators - Research and Markets


The "Saudi Arabia: Mobile Network Upgrades, Fiber Expansion and Digital Transformation to Remain Key Focus Areas for Operators" report has been added to Research and Markets' offering.

In 2017, Saudi Arabia is expected to generate telecom service revenue of US$17.1bn (equivalent to 2.5% of nominal GDP), only a -1.5% drop over 2016, as the market gradually recovers from the -6.5% decline registered in 2016, owing to disconnection of unregistered users and MTR cuts. Mobile voice is the largest revenue-contributing segment, accounting for 38.4% of total service revenue in 2017. Mobile data will be the fastest-growing segment, presenting a CAGR of 10.5% over 2017-2022 owing to growing consumption of data-intensive services and rising investments in LTE (News - Alert) networks.

It is expected that overall service revenue to grow at a CAGR of 4.2% during 2017-2022 to reach $21.0bn. Growth will be driven by data services given the increasing adoption of 4G, FTTH and the popularity of OTT services. Mobile voice and data segments together will account for 76.1% of total revenue in 2017. Fixed voice and Internet segments will account for a combined 22.3%, while pay-TV will hold the remaining 1.6% share n 2017.



Total fixed access lines in Saudi Arabia will continue to grow from 7.1m in 2017 to 8.9m in 2022, owing to robust growth in FTTH/B (24.6% CAGR) and FWA (28.5% CAGR) lines. Though DSL is still expected to be the most adopted broadband technology (24.0% of total access lines) in 2017, its share will decline to 21.2% by 2022, as adoption of FWA (mainly supported by fixed LTE connections) and FTTH/B continues to rise.

The top two operators, STC and Mobily, are expected to generate together 75.2% of total telecom service revenue in Saudi Arabia in 2017. STC will continue to dominate the Saudi telecom market through 2022 with a focus on improving network speeds, connectivity and digital services. It is expected that 3G subscriptions to witness a -12.2% CAGR decline between 2017 and 2022 to reach 14.8m or 22.7% of total mobile subscriptions by 2022 compared with 28.4m in 2017. The decline will result from the increasing adoption of LTE services, which are expected to reach 49.0m or 75.1% of total mobile subscriptions by year-end 2022.


Key Topics Covered:

  1. Executive summary
  2. Market and competitor overview
  3. Regional context
  4. Economic, demographic and political context
  5. Regulatory environment
  6. Demand profile
  7. Service evolution
  8. Competitive landscape
  9. Major market players
  10. Segment analysis
  11. Mobile services
  12. Fixed services
  13. Pay-TV
  14. Identifying opportunities
  15. Opportunities in the market
  16. About the authors
  17. Country Intelligence Report coverage

Companies Mentioned

  • STC
  • Mobily
  • Zain KSA
  • Go Telecom
  • Virgin Mobile (News - Alert)
  • Lebara
  • beIN Sports
  • ITC

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/t4nc9l/saudi_arabia


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