int@j and Ministry of Information and Communications Technology announce 2011 IT and ITES industry statistics

H.E. Eng. Atef Al Tell, Minister of ICT emphasized in his statement on the importance of the joint efforts between the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology and INT@ that aim at developing the ICT sector, including the provision of relevant statistical information that is essential for drawing sound policies and developing future plans for the ITC sector that contribute to the development of the national economy.

Chairman of int@j, Mr. Mohammad Tahboub, indicated that int@j is working closely with the Ministry of ICT on conducting this survey annually with the objective of identifying the true size of the sector, its players, and identifying and classifying their activities according to international standards.

Int@j and MoICT adopted in the survey UN and OECD definition of the ICT and ITES sector and the sector's activities based on ISIC 4.0 classification. The survey was conducted electronically through a web enabled solution and targeted all IT and ITES companies in Jordan.

The 2011 survey results indicated that the Total IT revenue exceeded $738m of which exports revenue exceeded $230.5m indicating a 14% growth rate in export revenues leading to 1% growth rate in total revenue from previous year (2010). These numbers reflect the strength and ability of companies to export despite the overall global and regional economic downturn.

According to the survey results, employment in IT and ITES grow to approximately 11,235 direct employees in IT and ITES, and reached 4,600 in Telecommunications.

With respect to the distribution of Export revenues regionally and globally, the survey results reflect the increased demand in the GCC market of Jordan ICT products and services, mainly in Saudi Arabia.

Revenues generated from exports were distributed as follows: Saudi Arabia (39%), USA (9%), UAE (8.5%), Iraq (6%), Qatar (4%), Oman (4%), Netherlands (3%), Palestine (3%), UK (2%), and Sudan (2%). The remaining of export revenues were distributed between 48 regional and international countries.

On the other hand, "high value-added" IT activities generate around 90% of exports and around 35% of the domestic revenues demonstrating that the IT industry brings high value to the Jordanian economy mainly in exports.

In addition, according to the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, Telecommunications Sector revenue for 2011 exceeded $1.67bn dollars.

Accordingly the total Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Sector revenue for 2011 reached approximately $2.4bn compared to $2.35bn in 2010.