Saudi Arab to unblock WhatsApp, Skype and Viber

After a long wait, Saudi Arab is finally removing block from social media apps including WhatsApp, Skype and Viber.

According to Arab News the ban from the text messaging, video and voice calling apps would be removed in the country from next week.

Viber was the first online calling app that was banned in Saudi Arab back in 2013 because of not complying with “unspecified regulations”. Few months later, Skype and WhatsApp were also blocked along with a warning of blocking more apps if the failed to comply by government rules.

Now, four years later, the Saudi government is ready to unblock them. However, the apps will be strictly monitored by the Saudi government regulatory bodies and other service providers. Furthermore, for guarantee transparency, telecom firms would have to submit a quarterly index of complaints filed by subscribers, reported Tech Juice.

The Saudi minister of Communications and Information Technology, Abdullah bin Amer Al-Sawahah claimed that coordination between the Communications and Information Technology Commission and telecom service providers is in progress to facilitate the citizens to use the applications with “high quality”.

He expressed, “This fruitful cooperation between the Kingdom’s telecoms partners comes under the umbrella of ‘Customer First,’ a policy in which everyone works in order to give all telecom subscribers in the Kingdom the best services that meet their expectations and satisfy their needs.”