His Highness the Minister of Energy: The tariff strengthening the Kingdom's position as one of the countries most possessing the elements of a knowledge and digital economy and as a regional center for data and digital content.
Minister of Communications and Information Technology: The approval has a competitive advantage that strengthens the Kingdom's position as a focal point for digitally connecting continents
His Royal Highness, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Energy, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Water and Electricity Regulatory Authority, and His Excellency Engineer Abdullah bin Amer Al-Swahha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Communications and Information Technology Commission, thanks and gratitude the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and to his Crown Prince, His Royal Highness, Prince Mohamed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, may God protect them, on the occasion of the issuance of the Cabinet’s decision to approve the electricity consumption tariff for companies operating in the cloud computing activity in the Kingdom, noting what this decision reflects the interest of the Kingdom’s leadership and government in developing and supporting the investment in information technology sector, to embody the directions of the “Kingdom 2030 Vision" and achieving the goals of its executive programs related to digital transformation.
This support, for activities that require specific use of electric energy, reflects the interest and empowerment of the leadership for activities that have a high and important social and economic impact in the Kingdom.
In a statement on this occasion, His Highness the Minister of Energy affirmed that the tariff approved by the Council of Ministers, at a value of 18 halala per kilowatt-hour, will be an incentive and an incentive to invest in the cloud computing sector, which is a major possibility through which all the rules on which the digital transformation in Saudi Arabia is based is established, in addition to supporting Developing, developing and applying all the most advanced modern technologies in various business fields, pointing out that this decision reflects what the sector is doing Saudi Electricity Company From an integrative and pivotal role in the communications and information technology sector.
His Highness the Minister of Energy added that all companies operating in the cloud computing sector and activities that are licensed to operate by the Communications and Information Technology Commission will benefit from this tariff, and it also includes, as well as new companies that apply to deliver electrical current to them, before the end of 2023. He also pointed out that the Water and Electricity Regulatory Authority, later, will issue all the rules and procedures by which electricity tariffs are applied according to the new cloud computing, and it will also clarify the mechanism for submitting applications that allow obtaining the tariff and benefiting from it.
His Excellency the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Eng. Abdullah Al-Swaha, stated that the tariff, with its competitive advantages, strengthens the Kingdom's position as a focal point for digitally connecting continents, by expanding the scope and capacity of data processing in the Kingdom, and raising its capacity, by stimulating investment in data centers and cloud computing services.
His Excellency added that the impact of this decision will directly affect the growth of the data-dependent digital economy, accelerate the entry of digital products to the market, in addition to stimulating an environment conducive to digital entrepreneurship, pointing out that the Kingdom culminated in its technical and digital transformation efforts by attracting the two largest technical investments in the Middle East and North Africa region in the field of cloud computing, by the selection of Google and Ali Baba Cloud for the Kingdom to be a regional center for their operations, in two deals totaling more than one billion and half dollars.
