Communication

In keeping with his determination to build a modern state, King Abdulaziz had wireless telegraph stations set up in Makkah, Taif, Jeddah and Riyadh in the early 1930s. When the global communications revolution began, the Saudi government launched ambitious projects to modernize the country's telecommunications system and since then has spent more than 23 billion dollars in that endeavor.

Saudi Arabia's telecommunications sector continues to grow at a remarkable rate, with the expansion of both facilities and services. The country's telephone system is already one of the world's most modern and efficient, and new microwave links with Arab countries have been opened to strengthen regional communication. The Kingdom boosted its telephone exchange capacity to more than 1.9 million lines in 1996, a dramatic rise from the 76,600 lines in place in 1970. An ambitious project increased the telephone network by another one million lines by the year 2000. The Kingdom's seven standard earth stations link up with the Intelsat Satellite System, allowing subscribers to dial over 200 countries directly. Submarine cables complement Saudi Arabia's wire and satellite network to make the country an international hub for communications.

Saudi Arabia also utilizes the latest innovations in telecommunications, such as cellular telephones and pagers, which promise to serve the country's continuing progress.  In addition, by 1998 the Kingdom had entered the world of cyberspace, and the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, in coordination with the Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC) supervised the provision of extra lines for Internet access.

Some especially exciting innovations in telecommunications have helped to strengthen Saudi Arabia's international links. In early 1985 the Kingdom, along with other members of the League of Arab States, launched Arabsat, the Arab world's first communication satellite, with its major ground station in Riyadh. On June 17, 1985, Saudi Arabian Payload Specialist Prince Sultan bin Salman became the first Arab and the first Muslim to travel to space, aboard the United States space shuttle 'Discovery'. During the mission, Prince Sultan helped launch the second Arabsat communication satellite. Another landmark achievement came in 1987, when the Kingdom inaugurated the King Fahd Telecommunications City, the largest facility of its kind in the Middle East, and the seventh earth station in the country for satellite transmission and reception.

The Saudi postal service has also participated in the growth of the communication sector. Express and electronic postal delivery reaches many cities and towns in the Kingdom along with a number of foreign countries. In 1999, part of the Ministry of Posts, Telegrams, and Telegraphs was privatized, and the Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC) is expanding the telephone network, setting up a long-range optic fiber cable system and aiming at four million telephone lines. Extra lines, both cable and wireless, are needed for the massive expansion in this sector, including the surge of Internet use.