Technology & IT | Tuesday 24 February, 2015 8:30 am |

Expats and Saudis alike have welcomed the Communication and Information Technology Commission' s new decision to reduce the call rates of mobile and landline phones by 40 percent. This step is expected to encourage mobile phone users to talk for longer durations.

Calling prices in the Kingdom were previously considered one of the highest in the world at 25 halalas a minute compared to the global average of seven halalas. The new decision of CITC is expected to force telecom service providers to reduce their charges by 40 percent.

"Several mobile users do not have the money to bear the high costs of calls. Most expatriates in the Kingdom prefer to make missed calls to their friends or relatives as they cannot charge their mobile units easily, and often use this technique (termed "call me") to avoid these costs. The CITC move will encourage the poor to make long-distance calls for longer durations," Waleed Al-Abiari, a Yemeni resident told Arab News.

"The service of "call me" which was provided by local telecom companies is well known among Saudis and expats due to the high calling prices in the Kingdom. Many Saudis and expats have traditionally preferred to not charge their call units for this reason, as the "call me" service is free anyway. However, CITC's new step will revive the telecom market by encouraging mobile users to increase their usage by taking advantage of the low call prices," Badr Sheikh, a Saudi citizen in Jeddah, said.

The marketing director of Smart IT Solution Company, Sameh Abdul Al-Ghani, said that most mobile users were not interested in charging their call units as a result of the high call prices during the past three years, and more often depend on new apps to make calls such as Line, Facebook or others which can be downloaded on smartphones. "These apps provide free calls to their users which has led to large losses to local telecom providers. The new reduction decision will likely cut losses of telecom companies", he said.