The Public Investment Fund launched Gulf Coast Development to build an integrated tourism and residential destination at Al-Khafji covering approximately 20 square kilometres with 10 kilometres of Arabian Gulf waterfront. The plan runs to 8 residential neighbourhoods, more than 16,000 housing units and around 1,400 hotel keys across 3 main phases, with 3 neighbourhoods in the first phase completing in 2030, plus public, commercial, tourism and educational facilities and boat marinas, targeting visitors from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the wider Gulf.
This project is based on 16,000 homes instead of 1,400 hotel rooms. If you are selling here, focus on residential supply and Kuwaiti buyers from abroad, not on hospitality procurement.
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Payments players move into lending
SAMA approved raising the capital of GO Money, GO Telecom's wholly owned subsidiary, from SAR 20 million to SAR 138 million, with SAR 100 million in new cash from the parent, to support growth of its financing portfolio. The same day, Barq said it became the first digital wallet in the Kingdom to receive SAMA's preliminary approval to add financing to its activities.
Payments opened the door, but lending is where the real profits are. Now that SAMA allows wallet and telecom-backed companies to enter this space, bank digital teams need to decide whether to partner with these players or compete with them directly.
Cybersecurity becomes managed service
Purity Information Technology signed a SAR9.3 million contract, including VAT, with Qassim Emirate for three years of operation, maintenance and cybersecurity support services.
The SAR9.3 million, three-year contract makes cybersecurity an operating commitment; manage service quality and incident response as tightly as the initial technical delivery.
The second SIM tells the truth
Opensignal's Saudi read puts stc at 49.0% of the market, Mobily at 23.8% and Zain KSA at 14.6%, with virtual operators collectively near 12% and 7.4 million subscribers in early 2026. Zain customers are likeliest to carry a second SIM at about 37%, against 27% at Mobily and about 17% at stc; operators have invested over $1.5 billion in 5G spectrum since 2019.
Dual-SIM rates show pre-churn behavior, so focus your pricing and packaging on the second SIM instead of comparing only to a competitor's main plan.
