Arab Advisors Group 2003 Regional Internet Bandwidth Indices results: The UAE and Qatar lead the region.

The results of the Regional Internet Bandwidth Capacity Index and Regional Utilized Internet Bandwidth Index based on December 2002 figures have been released by Arab Advisors group in a research note on February 3, 2003. The UAE ranks first in the Utilized Bandwidth Index while Qatar ranks first on the Bandwidth Capacity index.

February 04, 2003 -

A newly released report, "Arab Advisors Group Regional Internet Bandwidth Indices for 2003: UAE and Qatar lead the pack." was released to the Arab Advisors Group's (www.arabadvisors.com) Strategic Research Service subscribers on Feb 4, 2003. The report calculates the Regional Internet Bandwidth Capacity Index for the nine countries of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE. The Regional Utilized Internet Bandwidth Index includes the eight market Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE. This is primarily because in a few of the covered markets the capacity is not utilized in its entirety. Results of more than 1 indicate a better than regional average bandwidth per subscriber.

"Our primary research shows that the nine countries in the index had more than 1.5 million Internet accounts by yearend 2002. These used a combined bandwidth capacity of more than 3.4 Gbps." Shahin Shahin, Arab Advisors Analyst and the author of the report commented. "Naturally, the aggregate figure disguises substantial intra regional disparities in bandwidth. The Regional Internet Bandwidth Capacity Index results reveal these disparities as the index figures ranged from a very low 0.10 score for Syria and a high 3.53 for Qatar". Shahin added.

Qatar led the Regional Internet Bandwidth Capacity Index with a score of 3.53, followed by Morocco (2.35), UAE (1.59), Jordan (1.44), Oman (1.36), Egypt (1.33), Saudi Arabia (0.51), Lebanon (0.41) and Syria (0.10).

In regards to the Regional Utilized Internet Bandwidth Index the UAE was the leading country with an index score of 2.52, followed by Egypt (1.47), Qatar (1.37), Jordan (0.91), Oman (0.41), Saudi Arabia (0.37), Lebanon (0.29) and Syria (0.15).

The Arab Advisors Group's team of analysts in the region has already produced more than 145 reports on the Arab World's communications markets. The reports can be purchased individually or received through an annual subscription to Arab Advisors Group's (www.arabadvisors.com) Strategic Research Service. To date, Arab Advisors Group has served more than 60 global and regional companies by providing reliable research analysis and forecasts of Arab communications markets to these clients.