Saudi Arabia’s new round of market analysis found that retail markets for fixed access and calls, leased lines, and broadband access are still susceptible to ex ante regulation.
The telecoms regulator (CST) defined the retail fixed broadband access market as a main market including several technologies. However, CST also defined a sub-market for fibre technologies, such as fibre to the premises and fibre to the room.
The latest September 2026 updated of Cullen International’s benchmark on market analysis implementation in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) also reported that the new Saudi round included nine wholesale markets, defining a separate wholesale market for MVNO hosting alongside the market for mobile wholesale access and call origination.
Other developments included CST defining geographic markets within Saudi Arabia for wholesale fixed broadband markets, and designating a tower company and data centre service provider as dominant operators in some markets.
Find more details on market analyses, dominant operators and imposed remedies from the MENA region: Click on “Access the full content” - or on “Request Access”, in case you are not subscribed to our MENA Telecoms service.
Scope
Region: Middle East & North Africa
Countries covered: 13 MENA countries
Policy area: telecoms, market power
Last updated: September 2026
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