The most competitive and the most privatized Arab Telecom markets (page 1 of 2)

Jordan ranks as the most competitive Arab market by choice, ranking second after the Palestinian Authority's unique situation. Palestine and Sudan are the Arab World's most privatized telecom markets: Total Private and Foreign proportionate share of 2003 revenues stood at 100% in Palestine and 72% in Sudan. Oman and Lebanon ranked at the other extreme with 100% full state ownership of the sector. This will change markedly in Oman with the second GSM license issued to Q Tel consortium this year.

A new report, "Competition Levels in Arab Cellular Markets & Privatization levels in Arab Cellular and Fixed Markets" was released to the Arab Advisors Group's Strategic Research Service subscribers on July 22, 2004. This report can be purchased from Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 950. The 29-pages report, which has 19 detailed exhibits, assess the intensity level of competition in the Arab World's cellular markets and the ownership structure and revenues of all fixed line and cellular operators in the countries covered by the study. The report covered the sixteen countries of Palestine, Jordan, Morocco, Yemen, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Sudan and the UAE.

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

"In order to rate and properly assess the level of competition in the MENA region's cellular markets, the Arab Advisors Group has created the Cellular Competition Intensity Index." Mr. Jawad Abbassi, Arab Advisors Founder and President said. "The index takes into account the number of operators, packages, and services available in each country currently covered by the Arab Advisors Group, with each category being assigned a percentage weight as determined by its importance as an indicator of competition". Mr. Abbassi added.

More specifically, the categories (and weights) include the following:

• Number of licensed operators by 2004 - 15%
• Number of working operators by 2004 - 40%
• Market share of largest operator by yearend 2003- 10%
• Number of current prepaid plans - 7.5%
• Number of current postpaid plans - 7.5%
• Availability of corporate offers - 5%
• Availability of Closed User Groups (CUGs) - 5%
• Availability of ILD (International Long Distance) Competition - 10%

"The weights assigned by the Arab Advisors Group add up to 100%, the perfect score a country can receive in terms of cellular competition. For the number of licensed and working operators, each figure was separately divided by the highest figure of that category, and subsequently multiplied by its weight." Mr. Yaman Al Jundi, Arab Advisors Research Analyst who co authored the report with Ms Adila Bouleghraif said. "For example, in terms of licensed operators, Jordan has the highest figure in the region with four. Thus in the case of Kuwait, the Arab Advisors Group divided its current number of licensed operators with Jordan's figure (two divided by four), resulting in a score of 0.5, in other words 50% of the highest regional figure. This number is then multiplied by 15% and added to Kuwait's total score. The same technique was followed for the number of postpaid and prepaid plans." Mr. Al Jundi explained.

For the "largest market share" indicator, the Arab Advisors Group first subtracted the largest market share from 1, and subsequently multiplied by the assigned weight of 10%.