Riyadh: The Communications, Zce and Technology Commission (CST) concluded the 10th edition of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Indicators Forum 2024, which revealed the growth of the ICT sector market size to reach SAR166 billion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8% during 2018 – 2023. The forum was attended by prominent ICT experts and leaders. It included four main presentations and a panel discussion that highlighted the ICT sector indicators in the Kingdom and its future trends.
The forum started with a presentation on ICT Sector Performance Indicators by Mufarreh Nahari, CST’s General Manager of Studies. The presentation highlighted the ICT sector’s development and growth. The Kingdom ranks 2nd among the G20 in the ICT Development Index 2023. The indicators also revealed the increase in mobile services penetration rate reaching 198%, while the IoT M2M subscriptions reached 12.6 Million.
Moreover, the mobile internet speed in the Kingdom reached 215 Mbit in 2023, w
ith a 99% internet penetration rate, and the number of cloud computing service providers listed in CST reached 31 local and global providers.
The second presentation, titled “Navigating the Innovation Frontier: Technology Market Outlook for Saudi Arabia,” was presented by Hamza Naqshbandi, IDC’s Vice President of Custom Solutions in (META) and Regional Director in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and Jyoti Lalchandani, the Group Vice President and Regional Managing Director (META) at IDC. The presentation highlighted the emerging technologies in the Saudi tech market, emphasizing that by the end of 2024, the total spending on technology will reach $18.4 billion, while the government spending on AI, IoT, Cybersecurity, and Big Data Analytics will exceed $752 billion.
The panel discussion on “The Future of the Tech Landscape in Saudi Arabia” presented the prospects for ICT market experts, with the participation of Salman Faqeeh, the Managing Director at Cisco in Saudi Arabia, Fahad AlTurief, the Vice President of Te
ch Cloud, in Saudi Arabia, Levant and North Africa at Oracle, and Othman Alhokail, a Partner at Merak Capital.
During the 3rd presentation, Jassem AlJobran, Head of Research at Aljazira Capital, discussed the “ICT Sector Financial Performance in Argaam”. He stated that the assets of the listed ICT companies had reached SAR250 billion. The Kingdom’s current market represents 37% of the total ICT assets in the GCC countries. Additionally, the total revenue of ICT-listed companies is around SAR119 billion, with the Kingdom accounting for 41% of the GCC countries’ revenue. Furthermore, the market value for the listed ICT companies also reached SAR379 billion, representing the largest share in the GCC countries of 57%.
The forum concluded with Sami Aldaham, director of Internet Services Development at CST, announcing the “Saudi Internet 2023” report. The report addresses internet usage and growth in the Kingdom, including indicators and information related to user’s behaviour and preferences, trending apps, and
data consumption per person.
Source: Saudi Press Agency