|
|
United Arab Emirates Telecommunications Report Q4 2009Published by: Business Monitor International Published: Oct. 28, 2009 - 79 Pages Table of Contents
AbstractBMI’s latest update on the telecoms market of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) contains new data on thesize of the country’s mobile telephony market as of mid-2009. It also includes data on the growth of thecountry’s fixed-line, internet and broadband subscriber markets in the first half of 2009.The most recent figures published by the UAE’s two network operators, Emirates TelecommunicationsCorporation (Etisalat) and Emirates Integrated Telecommunication Company (du), suggest that theUAE had almost 10.17mn mobile subscribers at the end of June. However, the mobile customer basegrew by 3.8% in the first half of the year, one of the weakest performances to date. For two consecutivequarters now, mobile market leader Etisalat has reported a loss of mobile customers. BMI suspects thatthese losses relate to the deduction of inactive prepaid customers from the operator’s reported total.Although we previously thought that Etisalat harboured a large number of inactive prepaid customers onits network, the latest regulatory data suggests that the level of inactivity in the UAE’s mobile sector isactually lower. The regulator has suggested that just 5% of the total mobile customer base, as reported byEtisalat and du, were inactive at the end of June, according to a 90-day active rule. The regulator’s datashows that there were 9.68mn ‘active’ mobile customers in the UAE at the end of June. Even onceinactive customers are discounted, it is remarkable that the UAE’s mobile penetration rate is over 200%.This points to the existence of a high number of multiple mobile phone owners, as well as a large numberof migrant workers who use their mobile phones on an occasional basis. This quarter sees some significant modifications to our mobile subscriber growth forecast for the UAE.We now predict growth of just 5.3% in 2009. The weak growth reflects a market that is already nearingsaturation point. It also reflects the departure of large numbers of migrant workers in the wake of thecountry’s economic slowdown. Nevertheless, we continue to anticipate growth in each subsequentforecast year. From 2010, BMI predicts that the UAE will start growing again on the back of economicrecovery. This development is expected to result in renewed demand for mobile services from a ‘secondwave’ of migrant workers. The demographic characteristics of the UAE, together with the high proportionof prepaid users, means that the level of multiple SIM ownership is likely to continue being high.In addition to revising our mobile forecast, this quarter sees the introduction of a new set of forecastfigures for the number of fixed-line connections, internet users and broadband subscribers. Although thelatest market data points to slowing fixed-line and internet user growth, broadband subscriber growth hasbeen more impressive than expected. The UAE remains in eighth position in our latest set of Business Environment Rankings for the telecomssector of the Middle East. This is in spite of receiving a weaker score in the Telecoms Market andCountry Structure categories. The Telecoms Market lower score reflects signs that mobile marketsaturation has been reached, with mobile market leader Etisalat reporting a loss of customers for twoconsecutive quarters. Meanwhile, the lower Country Structure score reflects the impact of a shrinkingmigrant worker population. Get Full Details About This Report >> |
|
|||
|
About MarketResearch.com
|
||||