RIYADH, 3 March — The Saudi Telecom Company will announce substantial cuts in mobile phone call charges this month. The company will also issue pre-paid mobile chips during the second quarter of this year, according to Saud Al-Dowaish, vice president for mobile communications at STC.
Speaking to Arab News, Al-Dowaish said the new cuts would also cover the Golden and Silver Bouquet services, allowing subscribers to receive double reduction. Dowaish refused to disclose the new rates, but said the company would hold a press conference shortly to announce them. At present STC charges 95 halalas per minute for mobile calls at peak hours.
The STC executive said he expected huge demand for pre-paid mobile chips, especially from limited income groups, women and children, as well as visitors to the Kingdom. He said the company expects to sell at least 1.2 million pre-paid chips this year.
Dowaish said STC would introduce new information services in the form of mobile messages by June.
“Those intending to avail of this opportunity should get a new chip which will show a computer-like screen on the handset to get messages in both English and Arabic,” he explained. The company will charge 75 halalas per message. The dispatches include headline news, stock prices, results of sporting events and jokes.
At present there are more than 2.7 million mobile phone subscribers in the Kingdom. The number increases by 130,000 monthly.
Finnish company Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson have won contracts worth SR2.85 billion to implement the Kingdom’s fifth mobile expansion project which will add three million mobile lines to the present network that covers more than 100 cities and townships and major highways in the country.
STC introduced the new “Silver Bouquet” and “Gold Bouquet” package services recently. Unlike the normal subscription rates of SR60 per month with 95 halalas per minute during the peak hours and 50 halalas in the off-peak hours, the rates for the two cardholders would be different. For the Silver Bouquet holders, the monthly subscription would be SR100, with 70 minutes of free calls. They would also be eligible for a discounted rate of 85 halalas per minute during the peak hours.
Subscribers to Gold Bouquet would pay a monthly subscription of SR200 and could enjoy 250 minutes of free calls, besides a discounted rate of 75 halalas per minute during the peak hours. The general discount of 50 halalas per minute during the off-peak hours remains the same for all subscribers.
Spelling out the company’s new services, Dowaish said it would allow clients to change their mobile phones from ordinary to family and vice versa without levying any additional charges.
