Saudi Arabia embracing VPNs
July 11, 2018
By Chris Forrester
Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s heaviest users of Virtual Private Network (VPN) access, and mostly to view anonymous content.
The data, gathered by GeoGuard from Global Web Index, says 29 per cent of Internet users in Saudi Arabia are using VPNs, and the reason is to access better entertainment content, while a smaller number said that personal anonymity was their reason
The GlobalWebIndex study shows that one in four Internet users globally had used a VPN access during the month, and 77 per cent of that number are actually paying for their content, suggesting that users are willing to pay for their content but cannot access the material.
The study showed a smaller number of users (25 per cent) in the more liberal United Arab Emirates were using VPNs.
Bad as the Saudi and UAE numbers are, they were eclipsed by VPN users in the Asia Pacific region, typically 30+ per cent, and in Vietnam, the study reports that 68 per cent of internet users access a VPN system.