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UAE mobile connections surge to 18m

Active mobile subscriptions in the UAE surged to 18 million by the end of 2015 at a penetration rate of 209.8 per cent, one of the highest in the world.
New data released by the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) shows than the total mobile connections are almost twice that of the country's population estimated at just over nine million in 2015.
The top destination for outgoing international calls was Bangladesh, claiming 43 per cent of all overseas calls.
Mobile subscription volumes increased by seven per cent in 2015 compared to 2014 as total internet revenues rise by 30 per cent over the period.
The number of internet subscribers increased by 13 per cent in 2015 compared to 2014, reaching to 1.235 million subscribers.
The total level of internet revenues increased by 30 per cent to reach almost Dh5.98 billion
In 2013, mobile connections were over 16 million with a penetration rate of 192.9 per cent. In two years, subscription jumped 12.5 per cent, the Seventh Annual Review by TRA said.
Over the two years, the number of fixed line subscriptions rose to 2.258 million from 2.08 million at a penetration rate of 26.4 per cent.
The number of pre-paid subscriptions has grown to over 15 million subscribers, while the number of post-paid subscribers has reached almost three million.
Total international traffic from mobile phones reached 11.15 billion minutes in 2015, compared to 9.25 billion minutes in 2014.
According to the TRA report, average monthly revenue per user of fixed telephony services is Dh102 with the average of 126 minutes of calls per fixed line per month while the average revenue per user for mobile services is Dh112 per month with average monthly call volumes of 151 minutes.
For internet services, the average monthly revenue reached Dh416 per user.
Total international traffic from mobile phones reached 11.15 billion minutes in 2015, compared to 9.25 billion minutes in 2014.
The total mobile traffic reached 31.49 billion minutes in 2015, compared to 28.70 billion minutes in 2014 as traffic over the mobile networks increased by 10 per cent in 2015 compared to 2014.
The total number of SMS decreased from two million in 2014 to about 1.5 million in 2015, and the number of MMS has decreased from 20 million in 2014 to 6 million messages in 2015.
The report also revealed an increasing tendency of customers to subscribe to high-speed internet services, as more than 84 per cent of the population have subscribed to internet at speeds that exceed 4 Mbps in 2015.
Majed Al Mesmar, acting Director General of TRA, said the results reaffirm the vibrant and robust nature of the UAE's telecommunications sector. "Subscriber numbers and usage volumes have continued to grow, while the Licensees have worked tirelessly to respond to evolving consumers' demands."
Al Mesmar said the whole data for the report was provided by the two telecom providers, etisalat and du.
According to TRA a recent TRA data, 77.81 per cent of all handsets registered on the UAE's networks were Smartphones, a segment dominated by five brands. The top five handsets in use in the UAE during second quarter 2016 were Apple iPhone 6 (penetration of 4.17 per cent), Nokia 108 (penetration of 2.99 per cent), Samsung Galaxy J100H/J1 (penetration of 2.45 per cent), Apple iPhone 6S (penetration of 2.32 per cent) and Apple iPhone 5S (penetration of 2.29 per cent).
The TRA's report reveals that one-third of all handsets signed up on UAE networks during the second quarter were made by Samsung. The top four brand names were Samsung (33.3 per cent of all handsets signed up), Nokia (27 per cent), Apple (13.6 per cent); and Blackberry (1.8 per cent).
- issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com