RIYADH (WiMAX Day). The Saudi Arabian GSM operator Arb Etihad Etisalat (brand name Mobily) announced last week that it would spend at least 4 billion riyals (US$1.07 billionn) on building broadband and wireless networks over the next two years, according to Reuters. Mobily, one of two mobile carriers in the entire country, has invested 5.2 billionn riyals on growing its mobile phone network since 2005. Last September Mobily bought Bayanat Al Oula, one of two firms licensed to deploy a WiMAX network in the Saudi Kingdom.

Both Mobily and incumbent Saudi Telecom will face competition next year when Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Company (Zain) becomes Saudi Arabia’s third mobile phone firm. Despite the new opposition on the horizon, Mobily’s Chief Executive Khaled Al Kaf appears optimistic. “Expansion in data services and in rural areas will provide important growth potential,” said Kaf to Reuters in an interview last week.