Alswaha: Saudi Arabia will introduce Freedom of Information Law soon

Eng. Abdullah Alswaha, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, announced that Freedom of Information Law is imminent in Saudi Arabia. The legislation aims to foster creativity and innovation while maintaining the nation's sovereignty and confidentiality. During a press conference by the Ministry of Media in Riyadh, Alswaha highlighted the rapid growth of the Saudi digital economy.

It has skyrocketed by over 75 percent since the launch of Vision 2030, now worth 522 billion SAR, with a workforce of 410,000 in the digital sector. The minister also spoke highly of the LEAP 2026 Conference, the world's largest tech event, set to commence at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Center in Malham on Monday. Featuring 2,000 global tech brands, 1,000 speakers, and numerous startups, the conference will showcase AI, smart infrastructure, logistics tech, and digital government services.

Alswaha emphasized Saudi Arabia's global leadership in digital competitiveness and spectrum liberalization. The National Technology Development Program has backed over 1,500 entrepreneurs and 5,000 companies, including nine billion-SAR firms. The country has also exported more than 3,000 servers to neighboring nations, and offers 80 technical schools and trains around 30,000 individuals in AI.

The minister reported a significant decrease in communications and services gaps in the past decade, dropping from 50 percent and 50 percent respectively to 1 percent and 5 percent. The fiber optic penetration stands at 32 percent, with 5.8 million homes covered. However, he urged families to subscribe to boost children's opportunities.

Alswaha noted the Kingdom's capacity to reach 3 billion customers in AI and 1 billion in the primary market, aiming to become the primary energy provider for data centers. He also stressed that Saudi Arabia is on track to become the leading energy source for data centers. The minister announced that 5G coverage in Al-Baha is currently at 49 percent, set to rise to 64 percent by 2028, with 50,000 homes connected to fiber optics.

The Salla platform is a national success story, valued at SR36 billion, creating 100,000 jobs and enabling 120,000 online stores. Mega-projects will be unveiled during LEAP 26 in collaboration with Amazon, NVIDIA, and several other global companies, alongside the launch of Microsoft's Azure cloud platform on the first day of the conference on Monday.