Saudi Telecom Company (STC), with a shareholding comprising of the Government of Saudi Arabia (70%), the Saudi Arabian General Organization for Social Insurance (5%), the Saudi Arabian Public Pension Fund (5%) and the Public (Saudis and foreigners) (20%) is the national telecommunications service provider. The company enjoys the largest and well-developed infrastructure in the Middle East with over 20,000 employees.

STC has subsidiaries in other countries such as Natrindo in Indonesia in which it has 51% shareholding, Saudi Arabian Tejari (50%), Saudi Arabian Arab Submarine Cables Company (46%), Oger Telecom in UAE (35%) and Indian Aircel (18%).

STC is a public company that was founded in 1998 and has its headquarters in Saudi Arabia. Its major business is in the telecommunications industry in which it is involved in the manufacture of telecommunication equipments, telephone, Internet Broadband service, Internet Mobile Phone service, VOIP, IP and VPN. For corporate customers, STC offer VSAT services and Blackberry based mobile services besides regular services. STC has over 20 million mobile service customers and over 4 million landline customers. The company saw its revenue shoot to USD 9.19 billion in 2007.

STC is always on the look out for investment opportunities and is currently studying trends in third world countries. Its presence is starting to be felt in South Africa from where it expects to expand to other countries in Africa. With its strong financial base, STC has easy access to international markets and after being rated by the Standard & Poor's Ratings Service and Moody's Investors Service, STC has easy access to further financial funding from major financial institutions, which it can employ to further its expansion.

Some of the major achievements by STC are the recognition by the Arabian Business as the Leading Telecommunications Company in the Middle East, the Leadership Award by the International Institute for Research, the Saudi Joint Stock Company Award for transparent communication by BMG Financial Advisors and the Most Innovative Provider by SAMENA.

STC's growth has been steady since its formation. After its formation in 1998, it was listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange in late 2002. By that time, it already had over 5 million subscribers. Its initial public offer (IPO) was 3.5 times oversubscribed. STC had grown to become the fourth largest company in Saudi Arabia by 2005 in terms of market capital. By that time, it had reigned in 12 million and over 3 million mobile and fixed line subscribers respectively, becoming the largest telecommunications company in the whole of the Middle East. The company's well-developed infrastructure has enabled it cover 98% of the Saudi Arabia Kingdom. STC's subsidiary, Arab Submarine Cables Company has partnered with Emirates Telecommunications Corporation and Iraqi Telecommunications and Post Company are in the process of laying the first fibre optic submarine cable to connect UAE, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

With these partnership ventures and expansions, STC is bound to be a major player in the telecommunications industry not only in the Middle East but also throughout the world, especially in the developing world.