At the time, sources revealed that the two newly licensed virtual telecom operators, Union AlJorrah “Lebara” and “Virgin Mobile Saudi Consortium,” had shared a prefix allocated by the Communications and Information Technology Commission to provide their services, with their numbers beginning with (057).
The sources also noted that a third license, initially unannounced, was later granted to another company to operate through the host provider Zain, using the same (057) prefix.
Projections indicated that one of the companies was assigned numbers ranging from 0571 to 0573, while the second began with 0574 to 0576, and the third company was allocated numbers from 0577 to 0579.
With the entry of Virgin and Lebara into the market after securing their MVNO licenses, the number of mobile service operators in the Kingdom increased to five, compared to only three previously: Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Mobily, and Zain.
