On February 25, 2008, the Council of Ministers approved the establishment of Etihad Atheeb Telecom as a Saudi joint stock company with an authorized capital of 1 billion riyals (US$266 million).
Etihad Atheeb Telecom received the official approval from the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) for its license on April 5, 2009.
On June 6, 2009, Etihad Atheeb Telecom held a press conference to where the company announced the commercial launch of its WiMAX Broadband internet services, covering Riyadh.
Under the agreement ZTE will help GO construct a high-speed WiMAX network covering five major cities in Saudi Arabia, including the eastern region.
By the end of 2009 Etihad Atheeb Telecom had fully covered the western region of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia with its WiMAX network.