Telecommunication in Saudi Arabia

The development of telecommunications in Saudi Arabia is roughly equivalent to the average of the European Union. Under the country code +966, there were a total of 46.68 million connections in 2019. Among them were 41.30 million million mobile phones, which corresponds to an average of 1.2 per person. In the EU, this figure is 1.2 mobile phones per person.

In the expansion of broadband Internet connections, Saudi Arabia is back. Around 96% of all residents have access to the Internet. Approximately 20% have their own fast Internet connection, which is at least faster than the previous ISDN (more than 2048 kbit/s).

With about 145,941 webhosts, Saudi Arabia is below the world's average by population.

Back to overview: Saudi Arabia

Development of telephone and internet connections

The following diagrams show the development of the different telephone and Internet connections as a percentage of the country's population. Values above 100% mean that on average every inhabitant has more than one subscription.

Spread of internet connections in Saudi Arabia 1990 - 2019

Broadband internet in Saudi Arabia 2001 - 2019

Landlines in the years 1990 - 2019

Mobile phones in Saudi Arabia 1990 - 2019

Spreading in 2019	Saudi Arabia Total	Saudi Arabia percent	EU Total	EU percent
Broadband users	6.80 m	19.85 %	157.90 m	35.28 %
Landlines	5.38 m	15.69 %	166.16 m	37.13 %
Mobile cellulars	41.30 m	120.51 %	547.36 m	122.31 %