Because it failed to comply with the kingdom's regulatory requirements and laws, Saudi Arabia has banned the use of the web-based communication application Viber in the country, at the same time threatening others face the same risk if they don't adhere to the country's rules.

"The Viber application has been suspended ... and the (regulator) affirms it will take appropriate action against any other applications or services if they fail to comply with regulatory requirements and rules in force in the kingdom," Saudi Arabia's Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) said in a statement on its Web site.

Viber is an instant messaging application for smartphones that enable users to text, call, and send photos and video messages worldwide for free to users using 3G or Wifi. It is available for Android, iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Phone and many more devices and platforms. As of May 7, 2013, Viber already has 200 million users.

Although the CITC did not explain exactly how Viber violated the regulations of the Middle-Eastern oil-rich nation, experts believed the sanctions resulted from a warning issued two months ago.

In March, CITC told service providers in the kingdom to work on applications that would enable the Saudi Arabia government censor and monitor the online activities of its citizens.

Authorities believed the rising unrest in the country was being supported, among other things, by the use social media.

According to YouTube, Saudi Arabia now has 15.8 million Internet subscribers where the average user watches three times as many online videos per day as counterparts in the United States.

Apart from Saudi Arabia, Viber is also banned in neighbouring United Arab Emirates.