Oct to Nov 2010 - Teletimes

Dr. Homoud M. Alkussayer is the vice
president for Regulatory Affairs in
Saudi Telecom Company (STC). As the
head of Regulatory affairs, he leads
the company’s telecom policy and
regulatory management activities
including Legal counseling functions.
He is also in charge of developing
strong and effective relations
with the Regulator, ministries and
international institutions.
Dr. Alkussayer has held several
senior level management positions
within STC and has more than 25
years of leadership and professional
experience in Telecommunication. He
holds a Ph.D. in Telecom Engineering
from Bradford University - UK.
TT - How do you perceive
the current telecom market
in Saudi Arabia in light of
the developing competition
What role has STC played
HK - The telecom market in
Saudi Arabia witnessed exponential
growth and development
of the past decade.
Total sector revenues grew
four folds from around SR 15
Billion in 2000 to around SR
55 Billion in 2009. The reform
of the telecom sector and the
associated competition contributed
to this growth thus
far.
Nonetheless, forecasts indicate
that historical aggressive
growth may well be fading in
the context of a maturing market.
In parallel, competition is
The Saudi Regulatory Authority
(CITC) has played a major role in
stimulating competition in Saudi and
developing the market accordingly.
STC has over the years built a very
good relationship with the CITC
based on a solid foundation.
continuously intensifying and
may negatively impact all operators’
margins and ability to
sustain previous investment
levels. The Saudi market may
well be witnessing some competitive
value destruction to
a certain extent.
That being said, STC has been
and will remain committed
to the evolution of the Saudi
telecom sector enabling a relentless
wave of economic
modernization through ICT;
needless to say that consequently,
STC contributed to
economic diversity and overall
growth.
TT - How do you evaluate
the regulatory regime that
enabled the evolution of the
Saudi telecom market What
were the key drivers
HK - The Saudi Regulatory
Authority (CITC) has played
a major role in stimulating
competition in Saudi and developing
the market accordingly.
STC has over the years
built a very good relationship
with the CITC based on a solid
foundation. STC try to play an
active role with other operators
in the market to regularly
collaborate with the CITC in
shaping the next generation
of regulations in the market
which is done through formal
and informal channels (consultations,
meetings, workshops,
etc…). The recent examples
of such collaborative
exercises include the foreseen
evolution of the retail regulation
regime.
With that in mind, STC maintains
that the Saudi market
tends to be overly regulated
in comparison with other liberalized
markets, more noticeably
on the mobile front. This
form of regulation might have
been appropriate in the short
period following the entry of
the second mobile operator
but can not be maintained
15Oct - 14Nov 2010
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