Saudi women
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Smartphone use in Saudi Arabia is nearly double the international average. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Saudis are some of the most connected people on Earth.

In total, the kingdom has more than 44 million mobile phone subscribers, 88 percent of which have smartphones, according to the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), as reported by Arab News.

These figures also mean that there are more mobile subscriptions in the kingdom than there are citizens. 

Mohammed Al-Tamimi, deputy governor of the organization and competition sector of the CITC, explained that the prevalence of mobile phones is 138.7 percent – or about 1.4 devices per person in the kingdom.

Of these, 75 percent are prepaid subscriptions and 25 percent are post-paid subscriptions.

As Riyadh pushes forward with its ambitious Vision 2030 plan and its largest-ever budget planned for 2018, connectivity will be key to the kingdom's future success.

This week, CITC governor Abdul Aziz Al-Ruwais said that communication and connectivity are valuable parts of Vision 2030, as the kingdom seeks to "create an environment which attracts local and international investors and strengthens their trust", according to Arab News.

Al-Tamimi also stressed that CITC is taking important steps to organize the mobile communications market and ensure competition.