Arab telecom operators served 194.5 million cellular subscribers and 35 million mainlines by end of June 2008.

A new report from Arab Advisors Group analyzes and ranks 30 fixed services operators and 50 cellular operators in nineteen Arab countries. STC’s Al Jawwal, Egypt’s Mobinil and Vodafone Egypt are the largest Arab cellular operators in terms of subscribers.

With the advent of new operators and increased competition in 2008, cellular subscribers in 19 examined Arab countries reached 194.533 million. ALJAWAL and MobiNil sustained their top rankings by H1 2008, with 17.800 million and 16.328 million subscribers respectively. Vodafone Egypt ended the first six months of 2008 with 15.202 million subscribers, settling as the third largest mobile operator in the region. UAE recorded the highest cellular penetration rate by H1 2008, which stood at 198.6% followed by Saudi Arabia (123.3%). Both countries report subscribers based on active on the switch method. UAE also had the highest fixed line penetration rate by H1 2008, which stood at 29.4%.

On the Average revenue per use front, Qatar’s Qtel recorded the highest ARPU for fixed services, while Zain Kuwait recorded the highest ARPU for cellular services by H1 2008.

A new report, “A Scorecard of Key Performance Indicators of Arab Telecom Operators 2008” was released to the Arab Advisors Group’s Telecoms Strategic Research Service subscribers on Nov 23, 2008. This report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 2,000. The 61-page report, which has 46 detailed exhibits, provides a comprehensive analysis of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the fixed voice and mobile operators in the Arab region. The KPIs are for the year 2007 and H1 2008. The nineteen countries covered in this report are: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen. Two separate sections covered the fixed operators and the mobile operators. The report offers analytical comparisons between the service providers, by examining their performance in terms of the absolute number of subscribers, penetration rates, revenues, monthly Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), market shares, and key financial profitability ratios.

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

The investment can also count towards attending Arab Advisors’ sixth annual Media and Telecoms Convergence Conference on June 1 & 2 2009. More information on the conference can be seen at http://www.arabadvisors.com/Convergence/schedule.htm

Please contact the Arab Advisors Group for full information on the conference, agenda and sponsorship opportunities.

Please contact the Arab Advisors Group to get a copy of the report’s Table of Contents. The Arab Advisors Group now avails a secure online payment option for purchasing its reports. 

“The Arab cellular markets continue to grow at a high pace, while the fixed line markets are either growing slowly or stagnating. By H1 2008, cellular operators added around 18 million subscribers while all the fixed line operators added a mere 1.4 million mainlines. Cellular operators in Egypt and Saudi recorded the highest subscriber additions in by H1 2008. MobiNil topped the ranks with 2.121 million added subscribers by H1 2008” Mr. Issa Goussous, Sr. research analyst at Arab Advisors Group wrote in the report. “Competition in cellular services is a main driver for growth. Several cellular operators recorded high growth rates by H1 2008. Al Madar Aljadid in Libya recorded the highest growth rate amongst all cellular operators, which stood at 57.1%, followed by UAE’s du at 53.3%” Mr. Goussous added.

The report covers cellular and fixed operators in addition to Integrated Communications Providers (ICPs) that provide both fixed and mobile services. The ICPs covered include Algerie Telecom (Algeria), Batelco and Zain Bahrain (Bahrain), Etisalat and du (UAE), Jordan Telecom Group (Jordan), Maroc Telecom, Medi Telecom and Wana (Morocco), Paltel (Palestine), Qtel (Qatar), Saudi Telecommunications Company (Saudi Arabia), Tunisie Telecom (Tunisia), Sudatel ( it provides mobile services under the brand name Sudani), Mauritel and Chinguitel (Mauritania) and Omantel (Oman).

The Arab Advisors Group’s team of analysts in the region has already produced over 1,300 reports on the Arab World’s communications and media markets. The reports can be purchased individually or received through an annual subscription to Arab Advisors Group’s (www.arabadvisors.com) Strategic Research Services (Media and Telecom). To date, Arab Advisors Group has served over 500 global and regional companies by providing reliable research analysis and forecasts of Arab communications markets to these clients. Some of our clients can be viewed on http://www.arabadvisors.com/clients.htm

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