Saudi Arabia is into pure business as its telecom giant has come up with plans for STC to buy Careem. It was known this Sunday, that the plan is to buy 10% stakes in the car riding service namely Careem.
Careem is US-based Uber’s strongest rival that brings innovation for drivers and passengers both. The Saudi Stock Exchange, Saudi Telecom Co proposed stakes worth $100 million. These shall be funded by STC’s internal financial resources. It is one of KSA’s high profile ventures after Riyadh’s Vision 2030 plan. Thus, they are surely rising from being just an oil-based economy now.
The motive
STC says that the move is in line with their strategy to invest in the digital world to improve communication. This will surely be through transport mobility. Just in June, Uber had announced that KSA needs to inject $3.5 billion to help the app’s global expansion. Thus Careem came in 2012 and now has 47 operational cities through Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, and Pakistan.
STC is the largest name in Arab telecommunications when it comes to its capital. With more than 100 million customers, it has coverage of 9 countries namely Turkey, South Africa, Malaysia, and India. Moreover, this is a great move as car-booking services are very popular in KSA where women are banned to drive.
