King Abdul Aziz was well aware that an efficient telecommunications system was essential to his plans for consolidating and developing the Kingdom and it was during his reign (in 1930) that the first telephone exchange was installed in Al-Dira.

In 1953, the Ministry of Communications was formed and amongst its responsibilities were postal and telecommunication services. Within a year, the Saudi Arabian Radio Telecommunication Scheme RT-1 was installed, providing a multi-channel telephone and telegraph network, linking Riyadh, Dammam, Jeddah, the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah, and Taif.

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