Ban on Internet calls to be lifted by midnight
CITC approves 6 voice and video services
September 20, 2017 | 12:24 PM
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Saudi Gazette
Jeddah — The Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has approved the lifting of ban on six voice and video call services that fulfilled regulatory requirements.
Online voice and video call services such as FaceTime, Snapchat, Skype, Line, Telegram and Tango will become accessible from midnight (2100 GMT) on Thursday, according to CITC spokesman Adil Abu Humaid.
Some apps which did not meet the requirements will remain blocked, he said.
Since CITC statement did not specify if WhatsApp and Viber are approved or not, people are asking the commission on Twitter to provide an answer.
Commenting on the lifting of the ban on specific apps, Faisal Al-Saif, founder and CEO of Tech Pills, said on his Twitter account that Snapchat can now be used with more options.
He considered Telegram as the main competitor to WhatsApp, the latter being not listed on the approved apps. He advised people to use Telegram instead.
Another option favored in Far East Asia is Line while Arab nationals favor Facebook Messenger.
However, some people have expressed their worry that Internet prices might increase following this decision.
Asma Mohammad wrote on Twitter expressing fear that Internet prices will increase and also the speed might be slower.
Abdulaziz Al-Hamadi wrote that 150,000 scholarship students were paying high telecom bills to contact their families.
“Finally... they can do that for free now,” he said, adding, “It seems WhatsApp is not included in the approved list as it did not adhere to the requirements. Telegram can serve as a substitute.”
According to Statista, 49 percent of the population in Saudi Arabia use WhatsApp. This makes Saudi Arabia as the fourth country on the list worldwide in the use of WhatsApp proceeded by Malaysia, Germany and Brazil.
Snapchat has 7 million users in the Kingdom and 158 million active users around the glob.
Saudi Arabia ranks top in the number of smartphone users since there are 180,000 phones for every 100,000 individuals.
