Mobily signs up 20,000 subscribers

Mobily has signed up more than 20,000 customers for its broadband internet access service, which uses its 3G mobile network, in the two weeks since it was launched.

The fast rate of sign-ups is evidence that the holder of Saudi Arabia's second mobile phone licence is benefiting from the failure of the country's only fixed-line operator, Saudi Telecom, to connect large numbers of its customers to the internet.

Some 23 per cent of Saudis have access to the internet, mostly using dial-up connections, according to Arab Advisors Group, part of Arab Jordan Investment Group.

According to consultancy Pyramid Research, just 3 per cent of households have broadband internet, compared with 48 per cent that have a PC.

'There is definitely sufficient demand for broadband access from laptop users, and it is possible that the service will attract a significant number of desktop users too, since broadband access of any kind can still be hard to come by in Saudi Arabia,' says Pyramid Research's Middle East analyst Dearbhla McHenry.

In June, Saudi Arabia's regulator, the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), said that 50 per cent of people applying for broadband access were unable to get it because Saudi Telecom had not built enough telephone exchanges.

Mobily, which is owned by the UAE's Etisalat, provides 3G coverage to 19 of Saudi Arabia's largest cities.

The operator is spending SR1,000 million ($266.6 million) before the end of the year extending its 3G network to cover more than 90 per cent of the population.

The Council of Ministers is expected to confirm three new fixed-line licences for the Kingdom in July.