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UAE tops in mobile penetration rate
DUBAI - The UAE tops among the Arab countries for its highest mobile phone penetration rate, according to a latest report by Arab Advisors Group.
- PUBLISHED: Wed 14 Apr 2010, 11:08 PM UPDATED: Thu 22 Aug 2024, 11:36 AM
The country recorded the highest cellular penetration rate by September 2009, which stood at an estimated 193.5 per cent followed by Saudi Arabia at 165.5 per cent, according to the report, which covered 47 mobile operators in 17 Arab countries.
In December last year, the telecom regulator in the UAE said the country became one of the highest telecom penetration markets in the world as the mobile subscribers in the country reached 10 million, a figure that has doubled in the past four years.
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Both the telecom operators in the country - Emirates Telecommunication Corporation, or Etisalat, and Emirate Integrated Telecommunications Company, or du - have reported a significant rise in their mobile phone subscriptions. The largest telecom operator in the country Etisalat said last week, the mobile connectivity rose to 7.7 million in 2009 up against 7.3 million a year ago while its competitor said over one million active mobile customers acquired during 2009 and its total mobile phone customer based reached 3,477,000 by the end of 2009.
Arab Advisors Group said by the end of September 2009, 47 mobile phone operators in 17 Arab countries recorded a 16.6 per cent growth over 2008 in mobile phone subscription as they served 241.3 million cellular subscribers compared to 206.9 million at year-end 2008.
MobiNil, Vodafone Egypt and STC of Saudi Arabia were the largest Arab cellular operators in terms of subscriber bases by end of September 2009.
Between October 2008 and December 2009, three new cellular operators and three Mobile Virtual Network Operators MVNOs launched their operations in the Arab World.
“Cellular markets are liberalised in the nineteen Arab countries. The Qatari cellular market was the last to welcome competition. The cellular service monopoly in Qatar came to an end with Vodafone Qatar Foundation Consortium commercially launching its services in July 2009,” Faten Bader, Senior Research Analyst at Arab Advisors Group said.
Danya Nusseir, Senior Research Analyst at Arab Advisors Group said, “Between October 2008 and December 2009, three cellular operators and three MVNOs launched their operations in the Arab World. These operators launched in countries with relatively high cellular penetration rates compared to the rest of the Arab countries.
MobiNil and Vodafone Egypt ranked first and second, with 23.4 million and 22.1 million subscribers, respectively. STC in Saudi Arabia ended the first nine months of 2009 with 20 million subscribers, settling as the third largest mobile operator in the Arab region.
abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com
