By Telecom Lead Team: Recently, ITU released telecom
statistics including 3G, WiMax updates in the Middle East region.Mobile subscriptions
are experiencing significant growth across the region, with 23 percent CAGR
over the last 5 years (2006-2011), making it the second fastest growing region
in the world, only surpassed by Africa.
Kuwait, Libya, Oman and Saudi Arabia have some of the
highest mobile penetrations in the world, exceeding 150 percent by end
2010.
By end 2011, the Arab States had around 97 mobile
cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, putting the region ahead of Asia
Pacific and Africa. Mobile penetration rates vary within the region, from below
10 percent in Somalia, to 188 percent in Saudi Arabia.
Qatar has a relatively high mobile-cellular penetration
rate: 132 percent by end 2010, well above the mobile penetration rate in
all Arab States (88 percent).
In Qatar, mobile-cellular subscriptions have grown at a high
rate, in line with the overall growth experienced in the region (27 percent
annually over the period 2005-2010 in Qatar, compared with 30 percent in the
Arab Region as a whole).
3G Mobile
3G networks are providing mobile broadband Internet access
in all Arab States except Algeria and Yemen, where mobile broadband services
are limited to some specific locations. However, fixed wireless broadband
services are offered in these two countries through WiMAX, according to ITU.
In Qatar, mobile broadband services were first launched in
2006 by QTel. Since 2009 Vodafone Qatar has also been offering mobile
broadband.
The upcoming mobile broadband technology to be deployed in
Qatar is LTE, an evolution of 3G. QTel completed a trial phase in July 2011 and
announced a plan to progressively roll-out LTE in the country.
Internet
At the end of 2011, the Arab States overall had reached an
estimated Internet penetration of 29.1 percent, compared to 34.7 percent
globally. This places the region ahead of Africa (12.8 percent) and Asia &
Pacific, where Internet penetration in 2011 was estimated at 27.2 percent.
In Qatar, Internet user penetration stood at 81.6 percent,
well above the world average and above the Arab States region average of 29.1
percent.
While the Arab States’ 2011 Internet user penetration lies
below the world average, the Arab States have a relatively high annual growth
rate in terms of Internet usage. Between 2006 and 2011, the region’s Internet
user penetration increased by an average of 22 percent annually, compared to 31
percent in Africa and the CIS, and 21 percent in Asia & Pacific, and 8
percent in the both Europe and in the Americas. During the same period
2006-2011, Internet user penetration in Qatar grew by 23 percent annually.
There are major differences within the Arab States, with
Internet penetration in 2010 varying from below 5 percent in Mauritania and
Somalia, around 50 percent in Morocco, to around 80 percent in Qatar and the
United Arab Emirates – a level comparable to many European countries.
Broadband
By the end of 2011, fixed (wired) broadband penetration had
reached an estimated 2.2 percent in the Arab States, compared to 6.2 percent in
Asia & Pacific, 15.5 percent in the Americas and 25.8 percent in Europe.
Fixed broadband penetration is well below the world average of 8.5 percent. By
the end of 2010, only the United Arab Emirates had reached fixed broadband
penetration levels above 10 percent. This compares to over 30 percent penetration
in some of the most advanced broadband economies of the world.
Within the Arab States, Qatar, at 8.2 percent, had the
second high level of fixed broadband penetration at the end of 2010 – close to
the world average of 8.5 percent.
By the end of 2011, active mobile broadband penetration had
reached an estimated 13.3 percent in the Arab States, compared to 10.7 percent
in Asia & Pacific, 30.5 percent in the Americas and 54.1 percent in Europe.
Mobile broadband penetration stood below the world average of 17 percent.
There are a total of 21 countries in ITU’s Arab States
regional grouping: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan,
Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
