CompanyGraph
Saudi Telecom Company
7010 · Saudi Arabia
Runs the only physical cable network connecting all 13 Saudi provinces by burying fiber along Saudi Aramco's pipelines.
Saudi Telecom Company runs the only terrestrial backbone connecting all 13 Saudi provinces, built from fiber optic cables buried along Saudi Aramco's pipeline corridors — the sole stable routes across a desert interior where shifting sand dunes make above-ground installation impossible. Because Aramco controls whether any second operator may trench alongside those same pipelines, no competitor can replicate the backbone with money alone, which means every government ministry portal, remote oil-field data link, and Hajj emergency service ultimately runs over Saudi Telecom's buried cables. CITC spectrum licences then layer mobile and broadband coverage over that fiber spine, turning a physical infrastructure monopoly into billable services collected through bank accounts integrated with SAMA — though when subscriber density spikes during Hajj, the licensed spectrum bands fill up and must be shared with competitors, degrading the very service quality the fiber depth would otherwise support. The whole structure depends on Aramco continuing to treat corridor access as shared infrastructure rather than a proprietary asset, because if a pipeline security incident or a strategic change of mind caused Aramco to restrict that access, no above-ground route across the desert interior could replace it.
How does this company make money?
The company collects a monthly fee from mobile and broadband subscribers, deducted automatically from Saudi bank accounts through SAMA-regulated payment systems. On top of that fixed monthly charge, it earns additional revenue from per-minute international calling charges and fees for data used beyond a subscriber's plan limit, all billed in Saudi riyals.
What makes this company hard to replace?
Switching carriers requires CITC approval for number porting, and that process is tied to Ministry of Interior identity verification, which adds steps and delays most consumers will avoid. Government employees must transfer their security clearance credentials to a new carrier before they can switch. Enterprise customers face the most friction of all — they must go through full requalification cycles with Saudi banks to reconnect their integrated billing systems to a new provider.
What limits this company?
CITC sets a hard ceiling on how much wireless bandwidth the company can use across Saudi Arabia's 2.15 million square kilometers. When huge numbers of people concentrate in one place — as happens in Mecca during Hajj — that licensed bandwidth runs short, and the company must share the same frequency bands with competitors. The buried fiber underneath could handle more traffic, but the wireless layer above it cannot, so network quality degrades exactly when demand peaks most sharply.
What does this company depend on?
The company cannot run without CITC spectrum licences for its 4G and 5G frequency bands, the fiber optic cables buried along Saudi Aramco's pipeline corridors, desert-hardened Huawei and Ericsson base station equipment installed at tower sites, Saudi Electricity Company grid power to keep remote towers running, and SAMA banking integration to collect subscriber payments.
Who depends on this company?
Saudi government ministries rely on it to deliver their digital service portals to rural populations — if the network stopped, those populations would lose access entirely. Saudi Aramco's own remote oil field operations depend on dedicated fiber links for real-time drilling data, so an outage would disrupt oil field work. Hajj pilgrims depend on the mobile network for emergency services during religious gatherings, and a failure during that period would leave millions of people without a way to call for help.
How does this company scale?
Adding capacity to the buried fiber is relatively cheap — engineers can load more wavelength channels onto cables that are already in the ground without digging anything new. What does not scale easily is building new tower sites. Every remote location in Saudi Arabia's tribal land system requires its own individual negotiation with local tribal leaders, and that process cannot be automated, outsourced, or shortened by spending more money.
What external forces can significantly affect this company?
Vision 2030 requires 5G coverage at NEOM and other large government construction projects on tight deadlines, creating pressure to expand faster than the tower-site negotiation process naturally allows. US sanctions on Huawei complicate equipment purchases, since Huawei hardware is already installed across the network and upgrades depend on continued supply. Because the Saudi riyal is pegged to the US dollar, any rise in dollar strength directly raises the cost of imported equipment like Ericsson and Huawei gear.
Where is this company structurally vulnerable?
If Saudi Aramco restricts, suspends, or renegotiates corridor access — because of a pipeline security incident, an extended maintenance shutdown, or a decision to treat those corridors as a private asset rather than shared infrastructure — the buried fiber loses its physical route. Nothing above ground can replace it across the desert interior, so the entire backbone goes with it.