Saudi Arabia - 30 January 2012: GSMA, the global organization for mobile systems consisting of approximately 1000 companies spread across 219 countries worldwide, announced that STC is officially the first operator in the region to launch the 4G LTE service throughout MENA on the 12th of September 2011 as other operators followed their footsteps after that date.

STC reaffirmed its leading role in the industry by launching the new services in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain making STC group the first firm in the MENA region to initiate deploying this new generation in three countries.

The CEO of STC Group Eng. Saud bin Majed Al-Daweesh has asserted that STC Group has completed with great success the launch of the 4G LTE services throughout the region for the first time in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain.

Furthermore, Al-Daweesh pointed to STC Group's focus on developing the techniques of its networks in all 10 countries it operates in. To achieve these goals, STC is employing the very best highly qualified professionals to provide clients with world-class sophisticated technologies and service. Achieving these goals requires keeping the pace with new and innovative trends to offer customers the rapid speeds needed for data and information transfer services before anyone else in the market.

STC Group adopted 4G early in 2010 and announced the success of testing, heralding a new era in the telecommunications industry. The new technology is based on expanding the capacity and efficiency of the network, consequently impacting the rapidity of virtual transfer up to a speed of 100Mbps. Also, LTE allows operators to provide fixed services on the mobile network and to smoothly merge between both fixed and mobile services.

STC Group began launching the service in 11 cities across Saudi Arabia through more than 600 venues in the last quarter of the previous year 2011.