“ICT market is the largest in the Middle East,” says one of the leading telecommunication services companies in Saudi Arabia

Amjad A. Hafez, CEO of Nournet talks about the ict market in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is by far the largest ICT market in the Middle East; with over 27 million consumers it represents over 51 to 55% of the total Middle Eastern market. What is your take on the ICT sector in Saudi Arabia? What is the outlook? Are you optimistic about the ICT services with all the challenges that there are with the penetration rates and the inability to differentiate?

On the ICT side specifically, the market is facing some major changes, and it is not only in Saudi Arabia it is taking place all over the world. We are trying to ride on these changes. We are changing from the classic system integration way into the managed services area. Nournet is the market leader in introducing managed services in Saudi Arabia. We’re following the same lead by pushing the managed ICT services.

Looking at the downturn that the whole region is facing because of the oil price, ICT seems to be the least affected sector of all. The simple reason is that Saudi Arabia is still a developing economy with a focus on the ICT sector. The least affected ICT services are the managed IT services and things related to collocation, cloud, public and private clouds etc. Nournet sees growth in the ICT market as per IDC reports. The estimate is 20% year-on-year growth for the coming years.

We’re not the only one offering managed services. There are other players in the market too. It is all about who reaches to the customer right, who convinces the customer and who keeps the customer happy. Although we compete at some levels, we complement at others. We’re one of the best customers for telcos in Saudi Arabia so we continue this win-win together. We all are part of an ecosystem which is really vital for the economy of this country. We’re trying to contribute our share and make sure that we provide the needed services. With the downturn and struggling oil prices, the appetite for new services will drop. People will start thinking of cost cutting and that’s a challenge.