With its headquarter in Riyadh, Saudi Telecom Group is the largest in the Middle East and North Africa based on market cap. STC’s revenue for 2017 amounted to 50,747 million SAR (13,533 million US dollars) and the net profit for 2017 amounted to 10,133 million SAR (2,702 million US dollars). STC was established in 1998 and currently counts about 100 million customers worldwide. It focuses on providing services to customers through a fiber-optic network that spans 158,000 kilometers across Asia, the Middle East and Europe. In Saudi Arabia (the group’s main operation site) STC operates the largest modern mobile network in the Middle East as it covers more than 99% of the country’s populated areas in addition to providing 4G mobile broadband to about 85% of the population across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Besides its main operation in Saudi Arabia, STC’s investments include 100% ownership in Viva Bahrain, 51.8% stake in Viva Kuwait, 35% stake in Oger Telecom Limited in UAE which controls Turk Telecom, Avea in Turkey, Cell-C in South Africa, 25% stake in Binariang GSM Holding in Malaysia which controls Maxis in Malaysia. In addition to the above-mentioned, STC has a wide range of underlying investments in information technology, content, distribution, contact centers and real estate, all of which support its telecom operations across the Middle East.
