The Governor of the Communications and Information Technology Commission,
After reviewing the provisions of paragraph (3) of Article 3 of the Telecommunications Act, issued by Royal Decree No. 12 dated 12/03/1422H, which requires regulation of the telecommunications sector in accordance with “the creation of a favorable atmosphere to promote and encourage fair competition in all fields of telecommunications”; and after reviewing the provisions of the amended Telecommunications Bylaw, by the Decisions No. (1) dated 01/01/1435H, No. (51), dated 03/12/1438H, and No. (53) dated 02/09/1439H of His Excellency the Minister of Communications and Information Technology; and after reviewing Section 2-8 of the request for applications for licensing the provision of MVNO services in Saudi Arabia, issued by the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) on 25/01/1434H corresponding to 07/01/2013, which provides that, following an evaluation of the market, CITC at its discretion may consider 1) allowing MVNOs to move to another Host FBP and/or; 2) hosting of an MVNO by more than one Host FBP; and/or 3) hosting of more than one MVNO by a Host FBP and/or 4) when it is appropriate to add further MVNOs. And in view of the development of the Kingdom's mobile telecommunications markets and the experience of other countries, and after the Commission conducted the necessary studies and public consultation, the CITC aims to remove restrictions relating to the single host provider and to introduce modifications and enhancements to the current system for issuing mobile virtual network operator licenses; and
Based on the decision of the Board of Directors of the Communications and Information Technology Commission at its meeting No. 138/2018 held on 27/01/1440H, and in execution of its responsibilities and functions, has decided as follows:
First:
Approval of the “Rules and Conditions for MVNO Services and IoT-VNO Services Provision document, as attached to this Decision.
Second:
Approval of the “Conditions for obtaining a license for the provision of Virtual Internet Operator services (IoT-VNO)” document.
Third:
The aforementioned documents shall enter into effect as from the date of issuance of this decision.
Fourth:
A period of three (3) months from the date of this decision is given to the existing MVNO operators to apply for the new license for the provision of services as MVNO operators, taking into consideration the following:
- The duration of current licenses issued to existing MVNO licensed by the Commission will remain unchanged.
- The "license fee" will not be collected from the existing MVNOs licensed by the CITC when issuing new licenses
Fifth:
Existing Host Facility Based Service providers (Host FBSP) and existing MVNO must modify their existing MVNO Agreement in accordance with the “Rules and Conditions for MVNO Services and IoT-VNO Services Provision” referred to in Article I of this Decision, and submit it to the Commission within three (3) months from the date of obtaining the new licenses.
Sixth:
None of the existing MVNOs may initiate negotiations with another Facility Based Service Provider prior to the conclusion of an agreement with the Host Facility Based Service providers (Host FBSP) with whom it currently has an agreement to terminate that existing agreement and before obtaining the approval of the CITC.
Dr. Abdulaziz Salem AlRuwais
Governor, CITC
