02 A selection of data from the Informa Telecoms & Media


Intelligence Centres focusing on the telecom trends in the markets of the Middle Eastern region.


Crunching the numbers


As in other regions of the world, the telecoms markets of the Middle East are marked by great disparity. Mobile pen- etration in the region runs from less than 50 per cent in Yemen to more than 180 per cent in Saudi Arabia. In the fixed domestic broadband market the gap between top and bottom is enormous. Afghanistan has fixed broadband penetration of less than one per cent, while Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar have all passed the 100 per cent penetration mark. Nonetheless, fixed broadband penetra-


tion in the region remains comparatively low overall. Forecasts from Informa Telecoms & Media show that fixed domestic penetration


across the region as a whole will increase from 14.21 per cent at the end of 2011 to just over 25 per cent by the end of 2016. Compared to the mobile market these num-


bers are very small indeed. Informa forecasts that Middle Eastern mobile penetration will rise from 97.49 per cent at the end of 2011 to 128.51 per cent by the end of 2016. By the end of this year Informa expects there to be eight countries in the region with penetration in excess of 100 per cent while, by 2016, four of those will see penetration of more than 200 per cent. By this stage only four countries in the region will have penetration below 100 per cent, and the least penetrated of these—Syria—will be at just under 73 per cent.


Smartphone sales forecasts, Middle East, 2011 – 2015 2011


2013 Unit sales Sales penetration


13,950,000 26.6%


31,200,000 31.2%


Middle East mobile penetration forecast, 2011 - 2016 Dec 11 Dec12


Dec 13 97.49 106.78 114.06


Dec 14 119.78


2015


42,500,000 42.5%


Dec 15 124.18


Dec 16 128.51


Middle East Market Review | November 2011


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