RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s communications and technology market is witnessing rapid growth with SR93 billion ($24.7 billion) worth of investments already pumped in over the last six years to develop the country’s digital infrastructure, revealed the Kingdom’s Communications and Space and Technology Commission during the ICT Indicators Forum in Riyadh. With an estimated market size of around SR154 billion as of 2022, the Kingdom was the fastest and largest digital infrastructure market in the Middle East and North Africa region, according to the organization, also known as CITC. It noted that Saudi Arabia’s improved digital infrastructure has helped provide a better quality of services to customers, as mobile internet speed in the Kingdom has now exceeded 181 megabits per second, twice the global average. The Kingdom is now also one of the top ten countries in the world in mobile internet speed. During his speech at the forum, Mohammed Al-Tamimi, governor of CITC noted that Saudi Arabia has launched high-speed internet service in 21,000 villages and immigration areas of various regions of the Kingdom, ensuring the continuity of communication services for more than 5 million people. He further added that 5G coverage in the Kingdom has increased to 53 percent, while in Riyadh, it has exceeded 94 percent. Al-Tamimi also revealed that fiber optics coverage has reached 3.7 million Saudi homes. According to the CITC governor, internet service usage has dramatically increased in Saudi Arabia, where the subscription rate for mobile communications has reached 172 percent of the Kingdom’s population. The average daily mobile internet data consumption per individual in the Kingdom has also crossed over 1200MB, three times the global average, Al-Tamimi added. During the event, CITC also issued the Saudi Internet Report 2022, which noted that the percentage of purchasing products and services online reached 62.6 percent in 2022, with females topping the highest purchasing categories at 74.4 percent, while males stood at 53.6 percent. The report also noted that 49.4 percent of internet users spend seven hours a day surfing, adding that the average per capita mobile internet data consumption in the Kingdom reached 37GB per month in 2022.