In this section:

• Latest news of Technology Penetration in Saudi Arabia
  
• E-Commerce as a result of Technology Penetration
  

Saudi Arabia's affluence has also enabled them to adapt to new technology quickly. Below details how the people of Saudi Arabia have adapted to a high mobile penetration rate and the sheer speed with which Saudi Arabians have begun to adopt technology for commercial Use.

Latest News Of Technology Penetration in Saudi Arabia
Mobile penetration rates in Saudi Arabia are expected to rise 48 points to 130 percent in the coming five years, according to a recent report released by HSBC, which was cited by the Oxford Business Group.



The forecast builds from surging mobile phone subscriber rates over the past five years. Saudi Arabia's telecommunications regulator, the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), has estimated that the number of mobile users has swollen from 2.5 million people five years ago to 20 million people today.

"In terms of mobile penetration, in the next five years we expect the Saudi market to catch up with other similar economies and to reach 130 percent," said the report. A reduction in handset prices and reducing tariffs as a result of the liberalization of the telecoms markets are expected to drive the penetration rates, according to the report. Over the last 10 years, liberalization of the sector has resulted in a transformed telecommunications landscape and the entrance of new players. The number of internet users in Saudi Arabia reached 4.7 million in 2007, compared to 2.5 million in 2005, according to another report, Internet World Stats. Meanwhile the average internet speed in the kingdom is 500-kbits per second, although operators are offering faster packages.

A large market in population size, the telecommunications sector in Saudi Arabia has begun to display growth in some areas comparable to a number of its neighbouring countries in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC).

Since 2005 private investment has begun to be introduced in the mobile-phone sector. Long-standing constraints on foreign investment have significantly contributed to the more limited development of telecoms and information technology (IT) in the kingdom.
However, telecoms services are poised to become one of the most dynamic sectors in Saudi Arabia. The state-owned Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC) has been carrying out major land-line and information technology (IT) infrastructure work countrywide, taking over some of the functions previously subsumed within the relevant ministry.
The Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology is beginning to oversee the deregulation of the industry and has allowed a second telecoms operator to operate in the mobile-phone sector. Under this contract, a consortium headed by a non-Saudi company began operation in 2005.

E-commerce as a Result of Technology Penetration
Saudi Arabia's Internet users spend over $3.28bn in B2C e-commerce during 2007

A new Arab Advisors Group major survey of Internet users in Saudi Arabia reveals substantial adoption of e-commerce in the affluent and booming economy. 48.36% of internet users in Saudi Arabia reported purchasing products and services online and through their mobile handsets over the past 12 months.

'42.2% Saudi Arabia's e-commerce users make their payments through credit cards. Another 11.5% reported using Internet shopping cards provided by their banks,' Mr. Andrawes Snobar, Arab Advisors Sr. research analyst and team leader wrote in the survey report.

According to the survey results, 46.4% of internet users in Saudi have internet access at work, while 36.6% use internet cafes and 34.4% use WiFi hot spots. A full 23.7% do not access the internet except from their homes. Naturally, access methods overlapped.

While the survey covered Internet users, it also probed the reasons behind why other members of the same households surveyed do not use the Internet. Based on the feedback of Internet users, computer illiteracy, lack of interest, lack of a perceived need to use the Internet and being too young to use the Internet are the main reasons for keeping non-Internet users in Saudi from using the Internet.

The survey also revealed that the vast majority of Internet users in Saudi use Hotmail, Yahoo! mail and Gmail for their personal email service. Regional Arabic-focused email providers have less than a 10% share of the Internet users in Saudi Arabia. There is also plenty of service provider overlap (when users use more than one email service).

For more details with regards to the above survey information, pls proceed to;
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