Mobile phone subscription in the Arab world exceeds 24 million

A 2002 estimated mobile phone growth rate of 52 percent will push mobile phone subscribers across the 24 million mark by year end, and widen the margin between mobile phones and fixed lines by close to one million subscriptions.

Mobile phone subscriptions now outnumber fixed lines in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, according to the survey published this week in the first issue of Madar Research Journal - a New Economy market research monthly.

"The high growth in the number of mobile phone subscribers is due to network development and expansion projects by mobile carriers in many countries including Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia, in addition to new services such as prepaid mobile cards, the sales of which in Saudi Arabia alone reached 1.6 million since their launch in April 2002," said Abdul Kader Kamli, president and research director of the Dubai Media City-registered Madar Research Group.

"Mobile phone penetration in the Arab world, however, is still low. The 23.7 million mobile phone subscribers constitute only about eight percent of the Arab population, compared with a world average of 17 percent. But the Arab world will catch up with the rest of the world in the coming three years as Arab countries liberalize their telecommunication markets and bring in more players and competitors," said Kamli.

There is much disparity in mobile phone penetration between Arab countries - or regions. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, for instance, displays penetration rates much higher than world average but almost half the North American average, standing at 26 percent. Excluding the GCC, the Arab world has just over five percent mobile penetration, according to the survey which details the performance of each of the 18 Arab countries covered by the report in terms of Internet, mobile phone and fixed telephone line penetrations. The survey also introduces the Madar Research Telecom Use Ranking (TUR) Index, which produces an overall ranking for Arab countries in telecommunications use.

The survey is one of several research reports published this week in the first issue of the subscription-based Madar Research Journal, which map out the development of information and communications technology (ICT) and e-business in the Arab world. Among the highlights of this month's issue is the first benchmarking test carried out on Dubai e-government basic public services, which gauges their progress, offering a comparison between the services as well as with their equivalent in European Union states.

Other research reports explore Egypt's 'e-landscape', the development of e-learning in Jordan and e-banking in Qatar, as well as ICT initiatives in Syria, an investigation into the deployment of supercomputers in the Arab world, and the top 10 ICT deals made in Arab countries during the last quarter of 2002. Topics featured regularly in the journal include eMarket Trends, eStat Watch and Numbers in Quotes.

To help spread a research culture in the region, Madar Research Group has uploaded a complete PDF copy of the journal's zero-issue for free download from its website, www.madarresearch.com.