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 48.96 million connections in 2020. Among them were 43.22 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.With about 145,941 webhosts, Saudi Arabia is below the world's average by population. At the end of 2020, 7,977 million of these, or about 5 percent, were secured with SSL or comparable encryption.
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Development of telephone and internet connections
With an average download speed of 79.67 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, Saudi Arabia ranked 40th in an international comparison. The upload rate of only 29.61 Mbit/second was significantly lower (49th place). The quality of the Internet, consisting of signal fluctuations (jitter) and latency, is very far ahead at 44th place.In mobile internet, i.e. on tablets and smartphones, Saudi Arabia comes 6th with a download speed of 94.64 Mbit/second. The upload speed of around 17 Mbit was only enough for 12th place.
The Speedtest Global Index published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in February 2022 from 180 countries.
The following diagrams show the development of the various 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 connection.
Access to the Internet in Saudi Arabia from 1990 - 2020
Broadband internet in Saudi Arabia 2001 - 2020
Saudi Arabia is lagging behind in the expansion of broadband Internet connections. Around 98% of all residents have access to the Internet. Around 23% have their own fast Internet connection, which is at least faster than the former ISDN (more than 256 kbit/s). All fixed connections via DSL, cable or satellite were counted here, but not those connected to the Internet via mobile communications. Landlines 1990 - 2020
Mobile phones 1990 - 2020
| Distribution in 2020 | Saudi Arabia Total | Saudi Arabia percent | EU Total | EU percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internet users | 34.07 m | 97.86 % | 379.48 m | 84.74 % |
| Broadband users | 7.89 m | 22.66 % | 163.72 m | 36.56 % |
| Landlines | 5.75 m | 16.51 % | 160.15 m | 35.76 % |
| Mobile cellulars | 43.22 m | 124.13 % | 540.56 m | 120.71 % |
Country comparison Saudi Arabia : United States
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