New research from the Arab Advisors Group reveals that 87% of Arab cellular operators provide the MMS service. The SMS service, which is provided by all mobile operators in the region, is priced quite differently across the region. Yemen and Palestine have the lowest average SMS rates, while Morocco and Syria have the highest.
The research shows that the rate of SMS including taxes in Morocco is the highest. Morocco's highest rates are followed by Syria, Lebanon, Algeria, Qatar, Kuwait, Libya, UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Oman, Bahrain, Sudan, Tunisia, Yemen and Palestine.
47 out of the 54 mobile operators covered, provide the MMS service. Eight operators, provide it only on the same network without the ability for cross network MMS sending.
A new report, "SMS and MMS rates in the Arab World: A Regional Comparison" was released to the Arab Advisors Group's Strategic Research Services subscribers on November 7, 2010. This report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 950. The 38-page report, which has 17 detailed exhibits, provides a detailed regional comparison and analysis of the Short Messaging Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) rates in the Arab region. The report covers 54 cellular operators in the following 18 countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, and Yemen. "The Arab Advisors Group's regional analysis shows that the average rate of national SMS including taxes for the studied Arab cellular operators is US$ 0.060 for prepaid and US$ 0.061 for postpaid subscriptions, while the average rate of international SMS stands at US$ 0.161 for prepaid and US$ 0.160 for postpaid subscriptions. The average international SMS tariffs are 2.67 times the average
national SMS tariffs for prepaid customers, and are 2.64 times the average
national SMS tariffs for postpaid customers." Ms. Hadeel Sakkijha and Mr. Mohammed Al-Shawwa, Arab Advisors analysts, wrote in the report.
