Saudi Arabia eSIM
Data for Saudi Arabia on STC and Mobily, from $8.89. It never expires, tethering is included, and refills land on the line you already have, with nothing new to install.
- Networks
- STC and Mobily
- Typical speed
- 83 Mbps typical, 24 Mbps at busy times
- 5G
- yes, standalone and non standalone
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans for Saudi Arabia
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $8.89 | $8.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $5.63 | $16.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $4.78 | $23.89 | |
| 10 GB | Never expires | $3.39 | $33.89 | |
| 20 GB | Never expires | $2.64 | $52.89 |
Every plan works the moment you land. Unused data returns to your wallet when the line closes, and customers get at least 100 MB of free rescue data a month even at zero balance.
What 83 Mbps actually means in Saudi Arabia
Typical download speed on Orbislo in Saudi Arabia: 83 Mbps. That sits close to the Middle East median of 72 Mbps, which makes Saudi Arabia an unremarkable place to be connected, in the good sense.
The tenth percentile is 24 Mbps. That gap between the median and the floor is normal and it is where the frustration lives: the connection is quick most of the time and noticeably slow in the busiest few percent of moments, typically at transport hubs at peak hour.
At these speeds nothing on a phone is limited by the connection. Video calls are comfortable, a laptop can be tethered for a full working day, and large photo backups finish without planning around them.
Which networks you will be on
Orbislo carries traffic in Saudi Arabia on STC and Mobily. Your phone is not tied to one of them. When the network you are attached to congests or drops, the profile moves you to the other, and it happens without a prompt and without you noticing anything except that the connection kept working.
This matters more than the headline speed. Almost every travel eSIM sold today resells a single upstream agreement per country, so when that one network has a bad hour you have a bad hour with it and your only option is to buy a second eSIM from somebody else. A profile with more than one network behind it can make a decision you never see.
5G in Saudi Arabia: yes, standalone and non standalone. Worth knowing that 5G on a travel profile is normal rather than special, and that the tenth percentile above is the number that will decide how the trip feels, not the generation label in the status bar.
What data costs in Saudi Arabia
A 500 MB plan for Saudi Arabia starts at $0.95, which is $0.00 a gigabyte. That is the number to compare between providers, because a headline price attached to a different allowance tells you nothing.
The comparison most providers would rather you did not run is cost per gigabyte actually used. Independent surveys of travel data put the share of purchased data lost to expiry between 20 and 35 percent, because a plan that expires on day thirty deletes what you did not get through. Orbislo data has no expiry date, so the gigabyte you paid for is still there on the next trip. At the same headline price that is 25 to 40 percent more usable data, and in Saudi Arabia it means the effective cost is nearer $0.00 a gigabyte than $0.00.
Because nothing expires, the cheapest way to buy for Saudi Arabia is to buy slightly less than you think you need and top up if you run out. Topping up takes about ten seconds and does not involve installing anything. Buying too much is the expensive mistake everywhere else and merely a neutral one here.
Landing in Saudi Arabia
Install before you fly, on your home wifi. The profile downloads while you still have a connection you trust, then sits dormant until you land in Saudi Arabia and it attaches to STC.
On landing there is one thing to check: data roaming has to be switched on for the Orbislo line. It is off by default on both iOS and Android, and it has nothing to do with roaming charges here, because the plan is prepaid and there is no bill to run up. Turn it on for the Orbislo line and leave it off for your home line, and your home number keeps working for calls and bank codes without costing anything.
Coverage across Saudi Arabia
The figures above cover Saudi Arabia as a whole, and a national figure hides real variation. We publish separate figures for Riyadh, Jeddah and AlUla, because the difference between a capital and a coastal town is usually larger than the difference between two countries.
Outside the cities, coverage follows the same pattern it does everywhere: the main roads and the tourist corridors are well served, and it thins in the mountains and on the water. No travel eSIM changes that, because it is the same physical network the local population uses. What a multi network profile changes is which of the available towers you get to use.
Getting a local SIM in Saudi Arabia
Every mobile line is tied to a verified person. The regulator directed all providers to verify subscribers by fingerprint or through the Absher system from 21 January 2016, and the requirement covers postpaid, prepaid and data cards alike.
What is restricted in Saudi Arabia
- Voice over IP: The regulator has stated publicly that it neither directed voice calling in messaging applications to be blocked nor directed it to be restored, and that offering communications services in the Kingdom remains subject to the telecommunications act and its implementing bylaw. Calling over data is worth testing on arrival rather than counting on.
- Calling apps: The regulator lifted its block on internet voice and video calling from 21 September 2017 for every app that meets its regulatory requirements, naming FaceTime, Snapchat, Skype, Line, Telegram and Tango as examples, while a very limited number of apps that fall short stayed blocked.
- Satellite phones and radios: A satellite phone, a radio transmitter or a listening or recording device may need a licence to be used in the Kingdom, and wireless equipment is on the list of items that can need special approval before it is brought in.
- Social media posts: Public comment, spoken or on social media, about the King, the Crown Prince, the royal family, the government, Islam or political issues can be treated as a threat to national security. Posts made years ago or published outside Saudi Arabia may be taken into account.
- Publishing media: Producing, transmitting or distributing printed, digital, audio or video information requires advance permission from the General Authority of Media Regulation. Doing it without that permission can bring a large fine and a prison sentence.
Worth knowing about Saudi Arabia
- A line whose holder details were never verified has sending suspended for two weeks and is then disconnected, and it can only be brought back if the verification is done within 90 days of that disconnection.
- Retail price ceilings for roaming between the Gulf Cooperation Council states have applied since 1 April 2016. They were set by the GCC ministerial committee for communications and bind every mobile provider in those states, covering outgoing and incoming calls, texts and data.
- The emergency number for ambulance, fire and police is 911. A caller without a Saudi SIM card should dial 112 instead.
- Emergency numbers set by the regulator must be free to call. When a Saudi line is suspended, every outgoing service stops except emergency calls and the operator's own contact channels, so a suspended SIM can still reach help.
- A prepaid line must receive a free message when 80 percent of its balance has been used and at least two days before its package expires. After every recharge the operator also has to send the new balance and how long the line stays valid.
- An operator may not cancel a prepaid service before the end of the subscription period without a legal reason, and it has to explain what happens to any remaining balance when the subscription expires or the number is ported or cancelled.
- Every operator must offer a free check, by text message, on its website and through its phone menu, that lists all the numbers registered under a customer's ID with that operator.
- Saudi operators are required to have measures in place that stop their customers in border areas from roaming automatically onto a network in the neighbouring country, which protects a local SIM from surprise roaming charges near a frontier.
- Under a 2017 regulator decision, a fair use limit on mobile data may not start before 3 GB a day on a voice SIM or 6 GB a day on a data SIM, and speed afterwards may not drop below 512 kbit/s and 1 Mbit/s respectively.
- A stc visitor number booked online still has to be activated in person at a branch after arrival, and the booking is held for 30 days. stc's visitor package prices include 15 percent VAT.
How Saudi Arabia compares across Middle East
- Regional typical speed
- 72 Mbps
- Upstream networks
- 2, STC, Mobily
- 5G
- Yes, standalone and non standalone
- Next fastest nearby
- Kuwait, 86 Mbps
- Next slowest nearby
- Bahrain, 78 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 3: Riyadh, Jeddah, AlUla
