By end of September 2009, 47 mobile operators in seventeen Arab countries served 241.3 million cellular subscribers up from 206.9 million at year-end 2008, a growth of 16.6% over year-end 2008. A new report from Arab Advisors Group analyzes and ranks cellular operators in the Arab World by end of September 2009. MobiNil (Egypt), Vodafone Egypt (Egypt) and STC (Saudi Arabia), were the largest Arab cellular operators in terms of subscriber bases by end of September 2009.
Between October 2008 and December 2009, three new cellular operators and three MVNOs launched their operations in the Arab World. With the advent of new operators and increased competition, cellular subscribers in seventeen Arab countries reached 241.3 million by end of September 2009. MobiNil and Vodafone Egypt ranked first and second, with 23.4 million and 22.1 million subscribers, respectively. STC in Saudi Arabia ended the first nine months of 2009 with 20 million subscribers, settling as the third largest mobile operator in the Arab region. UAE recorded the highest cellular penetration rate by September 2009 which stood at an estimated 193.5% followed by Saudi Arabia at 165.5%.
A new report, “A Scorecard of Key Performance Indicators of Cellular Operators in the Arab World” was released to the Arab Advisors Group’s Telecoms Strategic Research Service subscribers on March 3, 2010. This report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 1,000. The 47-page report, which contains 32 detailed exhibits, provides a comprehensive analysis of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the mobile operators in the Arab World. The KPIs are for the year 2008 and September 2009. The report covers 48 operators in eighteen countries -for the period ending September 2009- namely: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen.
The report offers analytical comparisons between the service providers, by examining their performance in terms of absolute number of subscribers, penetration rates, market shares, revenues, monthly Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) and key financial ratios. Please contact the Arab Advisors Group to get a copy of the report's Table of Contents.
“Cellular markets are liberalized in the nineteen Arab countries covered by the Arab Advisors Group. The Qatari cellular market was the last to welcome competition. The cellular service monopoly in Qatar came to an end with Vodafone Qatar Foundation Consortium commercially launching its services in July 2009.” Mrs. Faten Bader, Senior Research Analyst at Arab Advisors Group wrote in the report. “Between October 2008 and December 2009, three cellular operators and three MVNOs launched their operations in the Arab World. These operators launched in countries with relatively high cellular penetration rates compared to the rest of the Arab countries. These operators are: Zain in Saudi Arabia, Viva (STC) in Kuwait, Vodafone in Qatar and three MVNOs (Renna Telecom, Friendi Mobile and Mazoon Mobile) in Oman.” Ms. Danya Nusseir, Senior Research Analyst at Arab Advisors Group added.
