Who's who in Arab ADSL rates? The highest, the lowest and the fairest

Iraq and Mauritania have the highest ADSL fees, while Egypt and Algeria have the lowest fees. When rates are analyzed in relation to GDP per capita in each country, the GCC countries and Libya lead the pack.

ADSL remains the prevailing Internet broadband technology in the Arab World. Uptake is strong in many countries especially as ISPs launch promotions and reduce their rates. The Arab Advisors Group has analyzed the ADSL service provision and rates in the following Arab countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen.

The analysis from the Arab Advisors Group reveals valuable insights into the ADSL rates and total cost in the Arab world.

A new report, "ADSL Rates in the Arab World: A Regional Comparison" was released to the Arab Advisors Group's Telecoms Strategic Research Service subscribers on December 21, 2008. This report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 950. The 34-page report, which has 18 detailed exhibits, provides a comprehensive analysis of the ADSL rates offered by the main ISPs in the Arab countries during October 2008. Moreover, the report details the availability of download speeds in each country of the aforementioned nineteen countries that offered the ADSL service.

Any investment in this report will count towards an annual Strategic Research Service subscription should the service be acquired within three months from purchasing the report.

The report compared rates for the speeds of 256, 512 and 1024 Kbps. Moreover, the report analyzed the availability of different download speeds in the 19 Arab countries.

"When including the GDP per capita in the analysis, the Arab Advisors Group concluded with the ADSL Affordability Measure (AAM). Basically, the total annual cost of ADSL in a country was calculated as a % of that country's GDP per capita, whereby the higher the ratio the less affordable the service is in that country." Mr. Hussam Barhoush, Arab Advisors Sr. Analyst explained.

For the 256 Kbps speed, this calculation indicates that Mauritania has the most expensive service relative to GDP (annual cost is 92.5% of GDP per capita), followed by Iraq (58.8%), Palestine (35.9%), Sudan (33.0%), Syria (31.7%),Yemen (24.0%), Jordan (13.5%), Morocco (8.7%), Tunisia (7.2%), Algeria (4.8%), Saudi Arabia (4.2%), Libya (2.7%), Bahrain (2.3%), Kuwait (1.8%), and the UAE (1.3%). The analysis does not feature the countries where the 256 kbps speed is not offered, or offered, but does not fulfill the comparison conditions set by the Arab Advisors Group.

The ADSL Affordability Measure (AAM) for the 512 Kbps download speed, calculation indicates that Mauritania has the most expensive service relative to GDP (annual cost is 157.3% of GDP per capita), followed by Iraq (68.6%), Sudan (49.5%), Syria (47.8%), Palestine (42.7%), Yemen (36.0%), Jordan (17.2%), Egypt (11.9%), Morocco (11.6%), Tunisia (10.4%), Algeria (8.0%), Bahrain (5.4%), Saudi Arabia (5.2%), Oman (3.7%), Kuwait (2.6%), the UAE (1.6%) and Qatar (1.4%).

The Arab Advisors Group's team of analysts in the region has already produced over 1,325 reports on the Arab World's communications, media and financial markets. The reports can be purchased individually or received through an annual subscription to Arab Advisors Group's Strategic Research Services (Media and Telecom).

To date, Arab Advisors Group has served over 500 global and regional companies by providing reliable research analysis and forecasts of Arab communications markets to these clients.