The Communications and Information Technology Commission announced the end of the grace period for the supply and sale of non-compliant telecommunications devices and the start of enforcement of fines of up to 25 million riyals, in accordance with the Telecommunications Law, upon detection of any such devices in local markets. The Authority also warned telecommunications equipment suppliers against supplying, distributing, or selling devices that do not comply with the specifications approved by the Authority—including unlicensed telecommunications devices and unauthorized network boosters—in order to avoid the announced penalties.
The Authority noted that the grace period lasted 60 days and included a number of inspection tours of telecommunications markets and stores, in order to highlight the significant impact that non-compliant devices have on the quality of telecommunications services; as non-compliant signal boosters cause radio interference that negatively impacts mobile telecommunications services and leads to a decline in service quality for users in the vicinity of such non-compliant devices.
It is worth noting that the Commission offers a “Device Licensing” service on its website that enables manufacturers and suppliers of telecommunications and information technology devices to verify that their devices comply with technical specifications before importing them into the Kingdom or manufacturing them.