• According to the Telecommunications Act (the Act), the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) shall regulate the market pursuant to the objectives of providing advanced and adequate telecommunications services at affordable prices, and ensuring the provision of access to public telecommunications networks, equipment, and services at affordable prices.

• The Act, the Bylaw, the Interconnection Rules, the Rules for Access to Physical Facilities, and the Rules for ICT Infrastructure Provision and Deployment in New Developments (these rules) stipulate the requirements for:

  • o Provision of ICT networks infrastructure and services.

  • o Access by an ICT service provider to physical facilities of other service providers, including infrastructure and passive network components, to facilitate the provision of telecommunications services.

  • o Access to private and public lands and premises.

• These rules regulate the provision and deployment of ICT network infrastructure in New Developments.

• These rules are intended to facilitate timely and economically efficient roll-out of telecommunications networks in New Developments, by network sharing, common standards for network deployment and joint construction, and promoting competition that delivers high levels of network performance and choicesto users.

• The words and expressions defined in CITC statutes shall have the same meaning when used in these rules. The following words and expressions shall have the meaning assigned to them below, unless the context requires otherwise:

  • New Developments:meansthe real estates to be developed by land and building developers, including land planning and preparation and buildings construction for residential, commercial, industrial, governmental or any other purpose.

• Large Scale New Developments: means a New Developments satisfying any of the followings:

  • •  A total area of more than (500,000) m².

  • •  A built-up area of more than (100,000) m².

  • •  One or more buildings with total of more than (40) planned stories above ground.

  • • Public buildings and facilities such as airports, universities, hospitals, railway stations and tracks, economic or entertainment cities, stadiums, etc.

•  Public lands: real property in which a proportion of its total area; such as streets, pavements, parks, squares, parking, public areas and others, is transferred to the relevant government authorities in terms of the ownership, management.

• Private lands: real property which is entirely owned by the New Development owner after the completion of construction works. It is often an enclosed area, the owner of such property is responsible for streets planning, operation and maintenance, and the provision of other facilities and services.

• Passive Network Components: include all the non-electric physical elements, such as buildings, sites, ducts, towers and masts, manholes, hand-holes, and cables, among others, that may serve for the provision of Outside Plant and In-building telecommunications networks.

• Outside Plant (OSP): Any ICT network implemented with the aim of connecting it, or using it to connect, with the public telecommunications networks. OSP includes passive ICT networks components and any associated hardware located between a central distribution point at the border of the New Development and Access Points.

• In-building Physical Infrastructure (IPI): means passive ICT networks components in a building connecting the Access Point with the Network Termination Points in the building units (also known as Inside Plant), including Network Termination Points, distribution frames, risers, telecommunications rooms and spaces, and lead-in ducts.

• Access Point: means a physical point located outside the building accessible by public telecommunications networks, hosting the Optical Distribution Box (ODB), through which a connection between the Outside Plant and the In-building Physical Infrastructure is made. It is the demarcation point between Outside Plant and In-building Physical Infrastructure.

• Network Termination Point (NT): is the point at which the In-building Physical Infrastructure (IPI) of a building unit terminates. A building unit may have multiple NTs.

• High-speed-ready: means that the Outside Plant (OSP) and the In-building Physical Infrastructure (IPI), hosting all necessary passive network elements, enable data delivery at a minimum speed of 100 Mbps.

• Agreement: means an agreement between concerned parties to construct, implement, own, or share Outside Plant (OSP) or Inbuilding Physical Infrastructure (IPI) in New Developments.

• Developer: a person developing real estate through any of the followings:

  • •  Preparing New Development sites for residential, commercial, industrial, governmental, or any other special purpose or public use (Land Developer).

  • •  Construction of buildings (Building Developer).

• Often, the owner of the real estate is also the
  Developer, he is responsible for observing
  Saudi building codes for construction and land
  development works.

• FBP: Facility Based Service Provider.

• MNO: Mobile Network Operator.

• OSP: Outside Plant.

• IPI: In-building Physical Infrastructure.

• NT: Network Termination Point.

• ODB: Optical Distribution Box.

• TCC:Technical Coordination Committee.

• Considerable construction work in New Developments is needed in the Kingdom, in order to cope with economic and population growth. The provision of ICT infrastructure in such New Developments is essential and serves as basis for enabling new services and technologies such as 5G and smart cities and buildings.

• New Developments vary greatly in their size and character. They may include any of the followings:

  • o Preparation and completely new constructions (greenfield).

  • o Construction in existing developed areas.

  • o Major renovations of existing buildings (brownfield).

• New Developments may be residential, governmental, commercial, industrial, or any other purpose; urban, suburban, or highpopulation.

• New Developments often lack High-speed ready infrastructure for broadband services. According to current regulations, Developers are responsible for ensuring the provision of some public utilities infrastructure such as roads, water, and electricity in New Developments. Developers are in a good position to also ensure provision of passive ICT infrastructure.

• If the provision and construction of different public utilities infrastructures, including ICT infrastructure, is coordinated by the Developer; multiple digging can be prevented and costsreduced.

• Transparent access to information about existing infrastructure and roll-out plans of Facility Based Service Providers (FBPs) is a key for infrastructure access, sharing, or joint construction.

• Efficient provision of ICT infrastructure in New Developments.

• Govern the rights and obligations of Developers and FBPs for the provision and construction of Outside Plant and Inbuilding Physical Infrastructure in New Developments.

• Encourage coordination with respect to the roll-out of ICT infrastructure in New Developments between property owners, Developers, FBPs, and other stakeholders such as utilities and public authorities.

• Provide the basis for coordination between FBPs and Developers for the construction of Outside Plant and In-building Physical Infrastructure in New Developments.

• Facilitate the provision of various services and facilities in a coordinated and consistent manner by joint construction, sharing, and access to existing networks.

• Minimize the amount and cost of civil works, as well as the social and environmental costs linked to them such as pollution, public nuisance, traffic congestion, and impacts on roads.

• Promote technical efficiency in the provision of High-speed-ready infrastructure, and thereby to help ensure that users can be provided with a high quality of service.

• Promote competition in ICT infrastructure and services provision for users, which enable them to choose a preferred Service Provider.

• Ensure fair and non-discriminatory access for FBPs to ICT infrastructure in New Developments.

• Provide the right for each FBP to terminate its network at public and private premises.

• The rules governing access to physical facilities dictate the rights and obligations of the service provider to access the physical facilities of another service provider, and these rules apply in new development areas. The obligations related to ensuring access availability in the new infrastructure also apply (Chapter 6 of the Rules for Access to Physical Facilities).

Obligations in this section apply on FBPs. Land and building developers should observe these rules.

• Land Developer should take into consideration the coordination with all FBPs to determine their interests for OSP provision and deployment during land preparation, in addition to mobile sites acquisition. Land Developer shall facilitate interested FBPs to roll-out physical infrastructure during land preparation by minimizing and utilizing civil works.

• Land Developer may request FBPs to rollout the OSP by issuing a tender and invite all FBPs to participate. The right of access for all FBPs shall be safeguarded when signing the deployment agreement with an FBP.

• Public Lands Developer may roll-out the OSP through qualified contractors. In such case and before implementation, the Developer shall sign an agreement with one or more FBPs regarding OSP handover processfrom the Developer to FBP(s).

• Private Lands Developer who will roll-out the OSP should sign an agreement with one or more FBPs regarding telecommunications services provision and activation in the New Development.

• Land Developer should consider finalizing any OSP deployment work before road surfacing is done.

• Design and deployment of OSP shall consider that the central distribution point (e.g. manhole, distribution frame, street cabinet) at the border of the New Development is able to accommodate the required cables for serving all customers in the New Development.

• OSP ownership in public lands shall be with one or more licensed FBP(s).

• FBPs shall utilize the deployed infrastructure efficiently and install up to date technologies.

• Any designated site for mobile base station shall be realized with fiber connections and power source.

• All New buildings should be equipped with High-speed-ready IPI for fixed telecom networks pre-installed during construction by building Developer.

• IPI deployment shall include lead-in ducts and cabling between building Access Point and telecommunications room/space (Cable assembly point).

• Any FBP has the right to access any existing IPI with a view of deploying a public telecommunications network, considering building owner approval.

• Any physical infrastructure deployment for mobile indoor coverage shall be based on agreement with one or more licensed mobile network operators (MNOs). The agreement shall include the process of enabling MNO(s) to use the intended infrastructure and the right of access for other MNOs to that infrastructure.

• OSP and IPI in New Developments shall be planned, designed, and constructed considering the technical standards set out in Annexes A and B, without prejudice to other standards and rules governing the development of lands and buildings. OSP and IPI developers shall be responsible for the accuracy of the as-built documentation.

• OSP and IPI in New Developments must be able to support at least high-speed broadband and voice services.

• FBPs shall prepare a list of their prequalified contractors carrying-out the design, implementation, and acceptance of OSP and IPI works, and publish the list on their websites and keep it up to date.

• To further enhance the technical standards defined in Annexes A and B to encounter for technical updates, multilateral working groups may be formed according to Article 7.2 of the Rules for Access to Physical Facilities to update those standards and submit them to CITC for review and approval.

• CITC may review and update technical standards defined in Annexes A and B regularly. Updated standards are found through CITC website.