The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia leads the GCC countries in terms of spending on telecom and IT services in 2014, with a total expenditure of SR112 billion, says a report released by the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC).

The clients of IT and telecom services included both government and private sector companies, and covered telecom and IT hardware and packages of software, it said.

The report revealed that the volume of spending on telecom services stood at 65 percent of the total spending, hardware accounted for 23 percent, while IT and software services captured the remaining 8 percent and 4 percent, respectively.

Citing data released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the CITC said the total volume of investments in telecom and IT services in the Kingdom last year reached SR17.83bn. Ready-made and advanced software captured the biggest proportion of this investments with 47 percent (SR8.39bn), followed by telecom devices and IT hardware at 27 percent (SR4.86bn) and 26 percent (SR4.58bn), respectively.

The telecom sector was the largest recipient of IT-related investments in 2014, with 25 percent, followed by the government sector (education and health sectors) at 20 percent, oil and gas sector (12 percent) and the financial sector (11 percent), the report said.

Related articles across the web

• Saudi Arabia encouraging investment in Pakistan, says envoy
• Yemen: Houthi rebels release video showing 2 captured Saudi soldiers, KSA vows to bring them back
• Hajj
• Saudi Arabia plans to participate in EXPO 2017 - Ambassador
• Guantanamo detainee Abdul Shalabi is transferred to Saudi Arabia
• Why 300 Ghanaian Pilgrims Were Dropped From This Years Hajj
• Guantanamo detainee Abdul Shalabi is transferred
• Wealthy Gitmo Detainee With Family Ties To Bin Laden RELEASED To Saudi Arabia
• UN Farce: Saudi Arabia to Head Human Rights Council
• VIDEO: Why Is Saudi Arabia Heading the U.N. Human Rights Council?