Saudi Arabia: Adopted Telecommunications and Information Technology Law including merger control regulation

On 31 May 2022, the Telecommunications and Information Technology Law was adopted by the Council of Ministers. The law contains competition obligations concerning mergers. Planned mergers between two or more service providers must be notified to the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), as well as acquisitions of at least 5% in shares of service providers. Service providers are defined as any "licensee, registrant, or permittee" that provides services relating to telecommunication or IT. This definition includes content platforms as well. The CITC can approve or block transactions in a review process.