São Paulo – There are 367.5 million mobile telephone lines in the Arab world, according to a press statement released last Thursday (8th) by Jordan’s technology, media and telecom research company the Arab Advisors Group. That means more than one line per person, because the region’s population is 360.7 million according to the UN.
The figure was culled from a report released recently by the consulting firm, comparing late 2011 and March 2012 data. Total subscriber number was up 1.5% during the period according to the report.
“The Arab Advisors Group believes that the rapid growth in cellular line bases in the Arab World is clearly due to the increasing appeal of prepaid offers,” said the company’s senior analyst Mohammed Al-Shawwa, according to the report.
Prepaid services prevail in the region. “By end of March 2012, eighteen operators had prepaid subscriber bases of 90% or more,” said Shawwa.
According to him, the mobile market is far ahead from the fixed line market in the region. “By year end 2011, the combined cellular penetration rate stood at 103.2%, compared to a fixed line combined penetration rate of 9.7% for the same period,” said Arab Advisors Group research analyst Zaid Abawi.
The report compiles data from 52 operators in 19 of the 22 existing Arab countries. The three leading companies in terms of subscriber numbers are Egyptian: Vodafone Egypt, Mobinil and Etisalat Misr.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
