The National Plan for Telecommunications and Information Technology endorsed earlier this year by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, includes training of 200,000 citizens in computer and IT applications free of charge. About 200 campaigns have been designed to carry out the training program, disclosed Saudi Gazette today quoted a report of Al-Madina Arabic daily. As per the objective of the plan, some 4,000 students will graduate every year in the IT field. It also targets 25,000 university students to specialize in IT and telecommunications field. This IT plan is associated with an integrated five-year strategy to achieve sales worth SR 5 billion in the field of the locally developed IT products. The plan aims to provide 30 computers for every 100 people. Highlighting the salient features of the plan, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mohammad Jameel Mullah said it will link 25 percent of the population with fixed telephone lines, 80 percent of population with mobile phone network, and introduce computer and internet studies in general and university education levels.
