In January 1996, the Global System for Mobiles (GSM) was launched in the Kingdom with the aim of installing 500,000 GSM mobile telephones. By late September 1996, more than half were in operation. By the end of the project, 45 Saudi cities and towns and all the major highways will be covered.

In 2001, there were 2,528,640 AMT & GSM mobile telephones in operation.