An overview of solutions by stc market shares in IT sector

Logo of Arabian Internet and Communications Services Co. (solutions by stc)

The prospectus of Arabian Internet and Communications Services Co. (solutions by stc) showed the market shares and key players in the information technology (IT) sector in 2018.

The company owns a 13% market share in the Saudi IT services industry, which is deemed a fragmented market (except for connectivity, standalone software, and hardware) – more than double the size of the second largest IT services provider by market share.

Fragmented specialized players hold a market share of 48% in the IT sector, hitting SAR 19.8 billion in 2018.

The company’s business is currently concentrated in the Saudi market. The percentage of sales outside the Kingdom (in Kuwait and Bahrain) does not exceed 0.15% of the company’s total sales for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2020. solutions by stc has five branches in Saudi Arabia.

According to the prospectus, solutions by stc plans to participate in growth solutions to target industry verticals and use cases with high potential (for example, financial services due to regulatory trend towards bringing data storage in-house). 

solutions by stc’s communication division is not part of the IT services market but serves the B2B voice and data market, which has slower growth, but remains a large opportunity for the company and its competitors in the segment.

The company aims to increase its market share in the Kingdom and achieve sustainable revenue growth while focusing on improving profitability to maximize shareholders’ returns.

solutions by stc holds the largest market share of 23% in the cybersecurity segment, followed by managed networks (17%), data center and cloud computing as well as office equipment (16% each).

The following table shows the company’s market share in various segments:

*The company and the market consultant derived this data from the market data related to the International Data Corp. (IDC) since 2018.

As the company plans to access and strengthen its position in the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) market, it envisions future long-term partnerships with hyperscalers, to whom the company could offer its local presence, knowledge, and access to customer base in exchange of leveraging their standard solutions.

solutions by stc established a foothold in the key future market growth areas with cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT) and digital. These areas are the fastest-growing segments with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20% for data center and cloud computing services, and 19% for IoT and digital from 2018 to 2025.

The following table illustrates the other main actors in the Kingdom's IT services sector: