The service is likely to be banned before the holy month of Ramadan which is expected to start on July 9. PHOTO: PUBLICITY
This month the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) banned Viber, another such tool, which like
WhatsApp is hard for the state to monitor and deprives telecom companies of revenue from international calls and texts.
The kingdom appears to be making a greater push for more control over cyberspace as Internet and smart phone usage soars, in part due to strict laws that limit opportunities for people to mix in person.
"We have been communicating with WhatsApp and other similar communication platforms to get them to cooperate and comply with
the Saudi telecom providers, however nothing has come of this communication yet," Abdullah Al-Darrab, governor of the CITC, told Arab News.
Al-Darrab said Viber was blocked last week for non-compliance, and that WhatsApp and Skype may be next on the list.
Asked when WhatsApp services would be blocked, the CITC chief said it was highly likely to be before the holy month of Ramadan which is expected to start on July 9.
The regulator issued a directive in March saying tools such as Viber, WhatsApp and Skype broke local laws, without specifying how.
Local media reported at the time that Saudi Arabia's three main operators Saudi Telecom Co, Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) and Zain Saudi had been asked to tell CITC if they were able to monitor or block such
applications.
Mobile penetration was 188 percent by the end of 2012, CITC data shows. Saudi Arabia now has 15.8 million Internet subscribers and the average user watches three times as many online videos per day as counterparts in the United States, according to YouTube.
Conventional international calls and texts are a lucrative earner for telecom operators in Saudi Arabia, which hosts around nine million expatriates. These foreign workers are increasingly using Internet-based applications such as Viber to communicate
with relatives in other countries, analysts say.
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Use the Proxy/ Hot Spot Shield :p.. Pakistani people knows it better :P
This action is motivated by only one factor: Greed. A nation which was one of the last countries to sign on the Universal Declaration of Human rights, because of their penchant for slavery, it wants to enslave its' people in various forms. Restrictions on freedom of movement and communication is among it. It wants restrictions on Viber, WhatsApp, and other such medium because it does not want to loose the revenues from overseas phone calls and text messages. They are not content with the income from oil and from the pilgrims to the two Holy Cities of Mecca & Medina. PTCL of Pakistan owned by Etisalaat of UAE is not too far behind in these shenanigans. They have restricted their com ports to some of the VOIP companies also.
@Ahmed: lol who said? Media is not free, international people (form pakistan, india and bangladesh) mostly working as loborer are afraid of their insane attitude. Crime is there but it is not reported.
@Ahmed: How do you know they have the lowest crime rate? Their media. Is highly controlled.
If Saudi does it for its internal security , then it's ok .
@Ahmed: This is also the country whose human rights record is among the worst
Also remember that their media is state controlled unlike ur country
So what rules should they comply??? Should a female have a male companion when she messages to others ????
@citizen: what about the one who even monitors and record even when u r shitting ?
This is a nation which has one of the lowest crime rates in the world.
What really needs to be un-blocked is their centuries old limited horizon of bedouin mindset, as if life would be a small patch of greenery and a water well in their vast barren deserts.
this is one insane nation.
Block as much as you want, more apps will always pop up for the services.