Expats to be replaced by Saudi citizens in high-profile telecom sector
Expats employed as telecom and network engineers will become redundant
Cairo: Saudi Arabia aims to replace expats with citizens in more than 30 specialisations across telecom-related jobs, the kingdom’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social development has said.
The targeted jobs include telecom engineers, computer and network engineers, software development specialists, technical support staff, and business analysis and software programmers.
The plan to Saudise telecom jobs comes under an agreement the Ministry concluded last year with the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology and the Saudi Human Resources Development Fund (Hadaf), and the Council of Saudi Chambers. It builds on a host of initiatives aimed at grooming nationals and allowing them to work in the field. The exact numbers of foreign employees in the Saudi telecoms sector are not known.
Foreigners make up about 10.5 million of Saudi Arabia’s total population of 34.8 million.