Saudi telcos divided over order to end free roaming

The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), Saudi Arabia's telecom watchdog, has said the kingdom's three mobile phone firms must end their policies of not charging a roaming premium for incoming calls made from abroad using Saudi-registered phones. The decision was made because many Saudi Zain, STC and Mobily customers have subscribed to the Saudi mobile services despite living abroad. A spokesman for Mobily told Saudi Gazette that it could not be forced to start charging a roaming tariff, which was against the best interests of consumers. However, Zain and STC said they would enforce the decision.