Saudi Arabia Wins ITU’s WSIS Prize 2021

Saudi Arabia continues to win international awards on all levels, achieving great progress in all global indices. Its latest achievement is being awarded the World Summit prize of the Information Society (WSIS) 2021 for its Free Wi-Fi initiative.
The
prize, awarded by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), praised the
Saudi initiative which aims to improve the quality of life and spread Internet
services in public places.
Saudi
Arabia's accomplishment, represented by STC, Mobily and Zain, comes within the
initiative's role in meeting the strategic goals of the telecommunications
sector to enable the Kingdom to transform into a digital society - one of the
main pillars of Vision 2030.
The
results were announced during the virtual opening of WSIS 2021 held in the
presence of ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao and representatives of the WSIS
member states, as well as the Saudi Governor of Communications and Information
Technology Commission (CITC), Mohammed al-Tamimi.
The
prize was awarded to the Free Wi-Fi Points Initiative, which was launched in
November last year and set an ambitious action plan to provide 60,000 free
wi-fi points in public places across the Kingdom, including holy sites,
universities, hospitals, malls and public places. It benefited more than
800,000 people in six months.
The
initiative’s superiority over several global projects nominated for the award
is a reflection of the position of the telecommunications sector at the
international level and the level of development of the sector’s infrastructure.
The
Saudi leadership continues to support the digital transformation projects and
activate the role of technology in various sectors, including government
services, healthcare, education and entertainment.
Saudi
Arabia has advanced on the Global Competitiveness Report 2020, issued by the
World Economic Forum, ranking among the top ten countries in digital skills
among the active population indices.
The
report attributed the high ranking to four factors represented in the Kingdom’s
adoption of information and communication technology, flexible work
arrangements, national digital skills and the digital legal framework it
possesses.