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Saudi Telecom Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (March 2007) |
| Saudi Telecom Company شركة الاتصالات السعودية |
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| Type | Public |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Headquarters | Saudi Arabia |
| Key people | Dr. Muhammed Al-Jasser (Chairman) Saud Al-Daweesh(President) |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Products | Telephone, Internet revenue =  SAR 32.54 billion (2005) |
| Slogan | Your World. Delivered |
| Website | http://www.stc.com.sa/ |
Saudi Telecom Company, STC (Arabic: شركة الإتصالات السعودية) is a Saudi Arabia-based telecommunications company that offers landline, mobile and Internet services.
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The Company operates through its three business units:
Includes landline services, card phones, public telephones, prepaid card services and business services.
Offers a range of mobile services, including Family Al Jawal, Sawa, messaging services, business services, data services and roaming services.
| Network | Status | Date |
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1996 |
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2006[1] |
Internet service provider, and a provider of data solutions. It serves the whole country as it is a monopoly covering both mobile and fixed networks. As of February 2007, STC has changed the name of their ADSL service to Afaq DSL.
The STC has emerged as the result of fake privatization that began in late 20th century. All telecom services were administered by the former Saudi Telex, Mail and Telephone Ministry. The company's IPO in 2002 was a major success in the Saudi stock market that marked the beginning of other offers later by many companies. In less than 3 years the stock rose by more than 2000%. This rise in stock price is a major profit for the government which owns most of the company stock.
The STC has been a target for public criticism since it was part of the Ministry of Telex, Mail and Telephone. Because it was a perfect monopoly (and in most part still is), services are way overpriced even compared to other countries in the region. Some Saudis began using the GSM networks of countries nearby, most notably that of the Bahraini telecom company, Batelco, due to its proximity to the commercial region of the Eastern Province.
Since Etihad Etisalat/Mobily started business in Saudi Arabia, the STC has become no longer a monopoly in mobile communication. However, it remains the only provider of land lines and all non-wireless Internet. The only internet access they don't fully control is Mobily's 3.5G internet access via a mobile phone SIM card connected to your PC/Llaptop iva a hub. you have to be in range though.
STC is highly criticized for providing slow and expensive internet services with poor reliability as indicated below.
- Slow Speed: 4096kpbs is currently the maximum ِADSL speed that STC provides for home users. This is keeping the kingdom of Saudi Arabia far behind when compared to nearby countries."STC press statment after launching a 512 Kpbs speed DSL service" . STC are recently rolling out a 4 Mbit/s service and demanding 480 US dollars for it per month!
- Installation Delays: STC installs DSL connections in less than 10 days for some customers, but for many of its customers the wait can last for many months or even more than one year in few cases. Most small cities and many districts of the three large cities have been waiting for the service since it launched in 31/12/2000 with no avail. Definite dates would not be given by the company.
- Poor Reliability: STC has demonstrated a bad reliability of its DSL connections as these lines frequently get disconnected for maintenance or troubles.
- High Cost: Customers are forced to pay outrageous fees to STC in addition to the payment provided to internet service providers. STC receives payments from home users, companies, government institutions, internet service provides, and KACST (the main service provider in Saudi Arabia).
- Dialup home users pay SR3 ($0.8) per hour of usage. That is, SR72 ($19.2) for 24 hours of usage."STC dialup price page"
- DSL home users pay SR230 ($61.3)"STC DSL prices site"per month for 512kbit/s in addition to the normal payment to ISPs.
Most customers are waiting for better services or looking into alternatives to STC. Having no choice, some customers started using satellite connections, which are illegal in the kingdom, to get higher, cheaper, and reliable internet connections. People are begging STC to provide better services with little luck as demonstrated by this web site Say No 2 STC where thousands of people are signing a petition addressing the king in hopes for better services from STC. The web site has stopped activity though (as of summer 2006).
As an example of such outrageous "services", STC began selling SIM cards in the late 90s (for cell-phones) for $2600 with zero minute credits. This is only for the SIM card and nothing else. In addition, they demanded around $1.80 per minute for local calls. For International calls, you will be forced to pay for your received calls as if you were the originator of the call. And as expected, you will be charged with the highest rates. They also demanded around $2600 for setting up new landlines before. The person calling you will be charged as well.
Dr. Muhammed Al-Jasser (Chairman of the Board) *Eng. Saud Majed Al Daweesh (President) *Eng. Saad Dhafer Al-Qahtani VP, Marketing and Sales *Mr. Khaled Abdul Rahman Al Jasser VP, Al Jawal *Dr. Zeyad Thamer Al-Otaibi VP, Network Sector *Dr. Hamoud Mohammed Al-KussayerVP, Corporate Core *Mr. Omer Mohammed Al-Turki VP, Shared Services *Mr. Ameen Fahad Al-Shiddi VP, Finance *Eng. Omar A. AlhudaithyVP, Information Technology *Eng. Saed Ahmed Al-Demiaty VP, International Telecommunications *Mr. Emad M. Alhudaithy VP, Human Resources and Training *Eng. Samir Asaad Matboly VP, Saudi Data Units
| 2005 Revenue (SAR) | 32.54B |
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| Net Profit Margin | 38.25% |
| Operating Margin | 41.06% |
| Return on Average Assets | 28.66% |
| Return on Average Equity | 39.04% |
In April 2007, Saudi Telecom posted its smallest quarterly profit in more than two years as competition eroded the former monopoly operator’s margins. المسمى بالعربي المسمى بالانجليزي نائب الرئيس لقطاع التخطيط الاستراتيجي VP, Corporate Strategy نائب الرئيس للموارد البشرية VP, Human Resources نائب الرئيس لقطاع الشبكة VP, Network نائب الرئيس لقطاع الخدمات المشتركة VP, Shared Services نائب الرئيس لقطاع تقنية المعلومات VP, Information Technology نائب الرئيس لقطاع الشئون التنظيمية VP, Regulatory Affairs نائب الرئيس لقطاع المالية VP, Finance نائب الرئيس لوحدة النواقل والمشغلين VP, Wholesale نائب الرئيس لوحدة خدمات قطاع الأعمال VP, Enterprise نائب الرئيس لوحدة خدمات القطاع السكني VP, Home نائب الرئيس لوحدة خدمات الأفراد VP, Personal مدير عام الشئون الإعلامية GM, Corporate Communication مدير عام الاستثمار الاستراتيجي GM, Strategic Investment Unit