In late September, Saudi Arabia's telecommunications regulatory authority CITC announcedit was finally the "lifting of the ban on all applications that provide voice and video communications over the internet".

The move was welcomed by consumers, who previously had found services like TimeTime, Snapchat, Skype, Line, Telegram, and Tango blocked in the Kingdom.

A TROUBLED HISTORY
This situation isn't necessarily unique to Saudi Arabia. Over the summer, residents in neighboring Qatar reported that they were struggling to use VoIP services.

In a nation with large numbers of expatriate workers -- Qataris make up just 12.1 percent of the population -- such services are a communication lifeline for many residents. That is especially true for lower-salaried workers from nations such as India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. Residents from these countries alone make up nearly 60 percent of Qatar's population.

The Qatar move sparked confusion, discussions about workarounds, and a negative reaction from some social-media users.

Qatar's VoIP problems sparked a backlash on social media.   Image: Amish Danish/Twitter

Like Qatar, nearby United Arab Emirates, which is also home to a large expat population, has had a similarly troubled relationship with these types of service. WhatsApp and Snapchat calls have historically been blocked, along with FaceTime.

Other states in the region have also adopted comparable policies, restricting access to VoIP and social-media providers, either in the short or long term.

In March 2016, Morocco blocked Skype, Viber, Tango, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger, eventually lifting the ban eight months later. Meanwhile, Algeria temporarily closed multiple social networks and messaging services, during summer 2016, in a bid to stop students cheating in their exams.

Microsoft's Skype support pages reflected the problems users in the region have accessing services. Image: Microsoft

MURKY REGULATORY WATERS
Broadly speaking, the root causes for these dynamics typically fall into one or more of three categories: licensing, freedom of expression, and money.

Saudi Arabia's telecom regulatory authority said it was lifting the ban on services "that meet the regulatory requirements in the Kingdom", suggesting that they previously had not.

In countries like the UAE and Qatar, regulatory requirements can make it difficult for VoIP providers to operate in the same way as they do elsewhere. As Qatar's Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) has noted: "There are no laws or rules that prohibit the use of such technology within the State of Qatar."

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