
Telecommunication in Saudi Arabia
The development of telecommunications in Saudi Arabia is roughly equivalent to the United States. Under the country code +966, there were a total of 52.02 million connections in 2021. Among them were 45.43 million mobile phones, which corresponds to an average of 1.3 per person. In the US, this figure is 1.1 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 of these, or about 5 percent, were secured with SSL or comparable encryption.
Back to overview: Saudi Arabia
Development of telephone and internet connections
With an average download speed of 85.10 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, Saudi Arabia ranks 43rd in an international comparison. The upload rate of only 28.22 Mbit/second was significantly lower (61st place).In mobile internet, i.e., on tablets and smartphones, Saudi Arabia comes 10th with a download speed of 97.81 Mbit/second. The upload speed of around 16 Mbit was only enough for 21st place.
The Speedtest Global Index published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in October 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 percent mean that, on average, every inhabitant has more than one connection.
Access to the internet in Saudi Arabia from 1990 - 2021
Broadband internet in Saudi Arabia 2001 - 2021

Landlines 1990 - 2021
Mobile phones 1990 - 2021
Distribution in 2021 | Saudi Arabia Total | Saudi Arabia percent | USA Total | USA percent |
---|---|---|---|---|
Broadband users | 10.59 m | 29.45 % | 127.03 m | 38.27 % |
Landlines | 6.59 m | 18.34 % | 97.11 m | 29.26 % |
Mobile cellulars | 45.43 m | 126.36 % | 361.62 m | 108.96 % |