Saudi Telecom Company (STC) announced the company’s preliminary financial results for this year’s second quarter and indicated that revenue from services reached SR13.182 billion, which is an increase of 1.1 percent compared to last year’s corresponding quarter. STC also indicated that for the first half of 2018, the company maintained the revenue level at SR25.568 billion. In accordance with the approved dividend policy for three years starting from 2015 Q4 which was announced in November 2015, and have been ratified during the General Assembly Meeting on April 4th 2016, STC will distribute a total of SR2.000 million in cash dividend for Q2 2018, representing SR 1 per share. Following the announcement, STC CEO Engineer Nasser al-Nasser asserted that the results of the 1st half of 2018 were good compared to the corresponding period last year, as the company maintained the revenue level which was driven by an increase in data revenue by 6.7 percent. “The company continues the comprehensive program to improve the operational efficiency and to work on costs optimization initiatives, that have led to an increase in the net profit by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter of 2018 compared to the same quarter last year and by 2.9% for the 6 months of 2018 compared to the same period last year,” he added. STC developed strategy (DARE) that aims to grow and expand in non-traditional fields in the ICT sector and, according to Nasser, the company aims to expand its investment through focusing on the value add of the technical and Fin-Tech solutions and content, which will help to achieve the targeted growth that the company seeks in the near future. In addition, the new Data Center in Riyadh has been launched in line with the National Transformation Program 2020 and Vision 2030. It will have a positive role to play in supporting and enabling the digital services for both public and private sectors in advanced technologies of cloud computing, cybersecurity, data analysis and smart cities. Nasser affirmed that by launching the new Data Center, STC would be the largest provider of infrastructure in the Middle East for Cloud Computing services with 12 new centers to be added over the next three years.