Saudi Arabia is the largest telecom market in the GCC, accounting for 66 per cent of total mobile subscribers and 59 per cent of total fixed-line connections, said the organisers of an upcoming ICT event in Riyadh.

Currently in its second year, Telsa, the only dedicated B2B telecommunications and ICT Exhibition and Conference in Saudi Arabia will be held from February 10-12 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh.

It will be held under the sponsorship of all three Saudi telecom providers, STC, Mobily and Zain, as well as the support of the Kingdom’s telecom regulator, the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), in addition to market and technology leaders in Web security and WAN optimization, Blue Coat Systems.

Hussain Al-Harthy, managing director, National Exhibitions Company said, “It has been announced that Saudi Arabia will invest up to SR37 billion in its telecom sector this year alone, with future forecasts predicting investments of up to SR50 billion by 2015, putting growth rates at more than the rest of the GCC telecom markets combined.”

“For this reason, we are delighted that this year’s Telsa will provide the perfect platform and a unique opportunity for all those wishing to enter the Saudi telecom market to network with key local, regional and international operators, regulators, service providers and government agencies and gain a first-hand look into market dynamics and regulatory framework in the Kingdom.”

The Telsa exhibition is free to attend for business professionals and is expected to attract over 3000 industry related visitors.

Due to the success of last year’s one-day conference, the summit  has been expanded  to three, one-day summits, which will include the Saudi Telecoms & ICT Summit, the Saudi Broadband Technology Summit and the Saudi Cloud Innovation Summit, featuring expert analysis, insightful opinions and engaging debates among more than 500 Saudi and international telecom  delegates. – TradeArabia News Service