Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority has suspended the share trading of four major telecommunication companies in the kingdom following the move to overhaul the sector's licensing system.

The share trading of Etihad Etisalat Company (Mobily), Mobile Telecommunication Company Saudi Arabia (Zain), Etihad Atheeb Telecommunication Company (Atheeb), and Saudi Telecom Company will be suspended from October 2 in the Saudi Stock Excahnge (Tadawul) till companies announce the impact of the High Order related to licesing on them, a statement from CMA said.

The CMA statement on its website said the High Order had directed the Communications and Information Technology Commission to coordinate with Zain to extend its issued license for an additional 15-year period, and to allow other interested Saudi-licensed telecom companies also to extend their licenses, against which the government will be entitled to a 5 per cent of the company's annual net income throughout the extended period.

It also directed CITC to coordinate with Zain to facilitate the issuance of a unified telecommunication licence that allows the company to provide all telecommunication services, in addition to allowing other Saudi-licensed telecom companies to obtain the same unified licence, CMA said. -TradeArabia News Service