Will competition in the fixed services reverse the decline in Sudan’s fixed line market?

January 28, 2007

The Sudanese fixed line market is in decline. The penetration level stood at a mere 1.6% by end of 2005. Meanwhile, the cellular market reflected a completely different image. Competition energized the market to increase the penetration level from 5.8% at yearend 2005 to 9.1% by end of Q3 2006. With fixed services competition initiated in early 2006, the Arab Advisors Group expects the fixed line market to show signs of life driven by economic growth.

The Sudanese telecom market is increasingly becoming more competitive in both the fixed and cellular markets. The fixed services market in Sudan (including fixed voice, Internet and Datacomm services) had a new operator launch services in late January 2006. Canar, a consortium led by UAE’s Etisalat, launched its fixed services based on wireless technologies. On the cellular side, the market hosts three cellular service providers: Mobitel, MTN Sudan (previously Areeba Sudan), and Sudatel’s new cellular CDMA network. MTN ended the monopoly of Mobitel in July 2005 when it launched its services. Later the same year, Sudatel finalized its CDMA cellular network, commercially named “Sudani”, and started its operations limitedly in late 2005.

A new report, “Sudan Communications Projections Report” was released to the Arab Advisors Group’s Telecoms Strategic Research Service subscribers on January 16, 2007. This report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 950. The 70-page report, which has 67 detailed exhibits, provides a detailed analysis of the Sudanese fixed and cellular markets and profiles the major players in the country. The report includes 5-year historical and 5-year projections on fixed and cellular uptake, revenues and CAPEX. The report provides, moreover, a detailed and comprehensive picture on the fixed and cellular markets’ strategies and regulations. Please contact the Arab Advisors Group to get a copy of the reports Table of Contents.

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’ fourth annual Media and Telecoms Convergence Conference on June 4 & 5 2007 at the Four Seasons in Amman. 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.

“The fixed line market in Sudan is very small, in both absolute and relative terms. The market had 570,000 fixed line subscribers by end of 2005. With such a status, the Arab Advisors Group believes that the fixed services market has ample room for significant growth.” Mr. Andrawes Snobar, Arab Advisors Senior Research Analyst wrote in the report. “The Sudanese cellular market has been growing at an impressive rate over the past few years. The Arab Advisors Group projects that the cellular market will continue to growing adding 1 million subscribers per year in the coming few years. This will be spurred by competition between the three operators (2 GSM and 1 CDMA) and the low cellular penetration in the country, which allows for a high growth potential for the three market players.” Mr. Snobar added.

The Arab Advisors Group’s team of analysts in the region has already produced over more than 710 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 400 global and regional companies by providing reliable research analysis and forecasts of Arab communications markets to these clients.