In a meeting with him in Asharqia Chamber.
The
governor of the Communications and Information Technology Committee, Dr. Abdulaziz bin Salem Al Ruwais
said that the Kingdom Vision 2030 for the telecommunications sector aims to
cover high speed broadband technologies by more than 90% of houses in cities
with high population density and 66% in other regions.
In
a meeting in Asharqia Chamber, he said that the Committee is cooperating with
both Municipalities and the Ministry of Housing in its new projects to cover
fiber optic networks, as well as covering remote areas with wireless
communication services, providing more frequencies that can be allocated to the
provision of telecommunications and information technology services, effective
and encouraging in the fields of communications and information technology
He
pointed that the aspects of the Kingdom vision for the sector is to reach the
five centers in the e-government index instead of the current 36 rank, reach 20
in the government efficiency index from the 80th rank, and increase
the proportion of modern trade in the retail market 80% in 2020.
Al
Ruwais reviewed the challenges faced by the telecommunications and information
technology sector and identified them in six
challenges, including the limited infrastructure of broadband in the Kingdom,
the shortage of human capital allocated and the weakness of telecommunications and information
technology skills, the weak contribution of the
information technology industry, the slow digital
transformation at the national level, The
transformation to competition and employment has been delayed.
He
said that the Kingdom is characterized by strong infrastructure, but it is not
the desired level or required for digital transformation and e-government, in
the sense that the digital transformation needs a stronger infrastructure than
currently exist, and this digital transformation is not desired without
reliance on national human capital, In
addition to the electronic industry we still rely on the foreign supplier, in
the absence of local content in this field, and the Committee in this regard
seeking to motivate the industry, and
perhaps in the future is the launch of an independent body concerned with the information technology ndustry.
He
added that these challenges pushed the Committee to launch a number of
initiatives, including the development of regulatory frameworks to motivate service
providers to invest in broadband infrastructure, and the launch of a fund to
motivate competitiveness with the aim of spreading fiber-optic technology by
urban workers. The country seeks to be involved with the operators to
spread this service in places with less profitability, and this is a problem
experienced by all countries with a wide geographical area such as the Kingdom,
so the Committee took this decision and will be in cooperation with the private sector.
The
vision is to reach the telecommunications and information technology sector with a highly competitive organization, distinguished
service for participants and an incentive environment for investors, in the
sense that the Committee is working on several tasks: developing the telecommunications
and information technology sector, monitoring,
monitoring and benefiting from the development in this regard, In
order to stimulate investment in the sector. He pointed that the Committee has
completed the review of the system of communications and information technology
and the draft has been on top of the study, containing new regulations to serve
the sector development.
Al
Ruwais discussed the subject of electronic commerce and said that the Committee
is in the process of determining the amount and development of the market and
encouraging local and foreign investments in it.
"We
hope that we will reach a better position, and we need government support,
manpower training and financial support to reach the e-government we are looking
forward to.
In
response to a question about the electronic attacks on some Saudi government
departments, he said that these attacks are a global issue not exclusive to the
Kingdom, and behind them certain groups known for political and security
reasons, and that our electronic systems and others have some gaps to address, many
Committees are taking many measures to face these attacks, which we expect to
come back in different ways.
"We
have a system in the site for years, but the citizens did not pay attention to
it until after some crimes. This system is designed to
preserve people information. We have cooperation with the concerned parties to
resist these crimes and punish those who violate them."
He
added that the Committee has full cooperation with customs to facilitate the
importation of goods, where permits are obtained and the completion of
transactions electronically. He stressed that the Committee does not prevent
the importing of any communications equipment as long as it is consistent with
the licensed activity, and does not violate the regulations of the country.
Regarding
the quality of the services provided by the service providers, he said that the
Committee follows these companies and communicates with them, and does not
interfere in its work except in the case of unfair competition or violation of
regulations, and it deals with the complaints of citizens and beneficiaries
seriously, so we invited these companies to appoint employees at the Committee headquarters,
these
services are linked to the Committee directly.
These companies are allowed to operate under the unified license, which is the
multiplicity of services. A company that provides fixed services can take a
permit to provide mobile services. New
service provider.
The
Chairman of Asharqia Chamber, Abdulrahman bin Saleh Al Atishan, who headed the
dialogue, explained that the countries of the world are racing to improve and
increase the contributions of telecommunications and information
technology in all their development fields. In view of
the rapid growth of the national economy towards diversity and innovation, the
telecommunications sector has become the main focus of the process progress,
which necessitated the development and improvement of mechanisms to invest its
energies and employ its capabilities in the creation and development of the competitive
aspects.
The member of the board of directors of Asharqia Chamber
and Chairman of the Communications and Information Technology Committee in the
Chamber Ibrahim Al Sheikh said that the recent decisions and procedures, in
addition to reforming the telecommunications and information technology sector better by making it more flexible to
successive developments, positive
settlement of national employment, one of the most important national options. The
remarkable growth and activity of the telecommunications and information technology sector in the Kingdom will enhance the demand for telecommunications and information technology services and
predict greater openness to more technology projects of all sizes and types.
He
stressed that in light of this expected expansion and the readiness of the
business sectors to increase their spending to move their systems to the
technical level, there is a need to expand the base of dialogue and discussion
on the future steps to examine all representatives of the private sector and
government in the light of the Kingdom vision 2030 aiming at
diversifying the economic base.
At
the end of the meeting, the guest was honored with a memorial shield presented to him by the Chairman of the Chamber, Abdulrahman bin Saleh
Al Atishan.
