The Impact of Regulation, Socio-economics & Technology on the Arab Internet Market Michael Minges International Telecommunication Union The views expressed are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of the ITU or its Members.
15
Embed
The Impact of Regulation, Socio-economics & Technology on the Arab Internet Market Michael Minges International Telecommunication Union The views expressed.
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
The Impact of Regulation, Socio-economics &
Technology on the Arab Internet Market
Michael MingesInternational Telecommunication Union
The views expressed are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of the ITU or its Members.
0.10%
0.04%
8.7%
5.1%
4.7%
4.1%
3.5%
1.7%
0.8%
0.6%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
UAE
Bahrain
Qatar
Lebanon
Kuwait
Oman
J ordan
A. States
S. Arabia
Egypt
Tunisia
Morocco
Yemen
I nternet users as
% of population,
May 1999
Internet in the Arab World
Tunisia
2%
Qatar
3%Yemen
1%
Bahrain
4%
Kuwait
7%
Morocco
4%
Oman
4%
J ordan
5%
Saudi
Arabia
12%
Leb.
14%
Egypt
22%
UAE
22%
Distribution of I nternet Users
May 1999 Total: 923'000
Source: ITU adapted from DITnet.
Wealth & Internet
Source: ITU adapted from DITnet and World Bank data.
Tunisia
OmanBahrain
Qatar
MoroccoEgypt
Jordan
Saudi Arabia
Lebanon
Algeria
UAE
R2 = 0.68
0.00%
0.01%
0.10%
1.00%
10.00%
$0 $5'000 $10'000 $15'000 $20'000
GNP per capita, US$
Inte
rnet
users
, %
of
pop
ula
tion
Internet absorbtion “hard” factors Rather have a cellphone
Telephone subscribers Mobilesubscribers
Internetsubscribers
Country(000s)1998
Connectedto Internet
(000s)1998
(000s)April 99
Mobile /Internet
Bahrain 158 8.2% 92 13 7.1
Egypt 3972 1.3% 91 52 8.9
Jordan 511 3.9% 71 20 3.6
Kuwait 427 5.9% 250 25 10.0
Lebanon 620 8.5% 500 53 9.4
Morocco 1’515 2.2% 117 33 3.5
Oman 220 18.2% 103 40 2.6
Qatar 1’501 1.9% 66 28 2.4
S. Arabia 2’878 3.9% 627 113 5.5
Tunisia 752 2.0% 39 15 2.6
UAE 915 22.3% 493 204 2.4
TOTAL /AVERAGE 13’469 4.4% 2’823 596 4.7
Source: ITU, DITnet (Internet subscribers).
Internet absorbtion “soft” factors
RegionAdult literacy
rate(%)
Schoolenrolment
(%)
HumanDevelopment
Index
Developingcountries
71.4 59 .64
Sub-SaharanAf rica
58.5 44 .46
Arab States 58.6 59 .63
East Asia 83.4 69 .71
South Asia 52.2 65 .54
Latin America 87.2 72 .76
Eastern Europe 98.7 76 .75
Source: UNDP.
Regulatory issuesDepends on viewpoint
Government• Content • Internet
telephony • Market
structure
User with access
• Speed• Pricing• Quality• Privacy• Security• Services• Support• ContentUser without
access• Access
ISP• Pricing • Service from
incumbent phone company
• Peering
Internet pricing
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Morocco Lebanon Tunisia UAE
Ten hours of dial-up Internet usage per month, US$
30
14
2
1
Number of ISPs Source
: ITU
adapte
d fro
m IS
P a
nd
PTO
data
.
Telephone call charge
Internet monthly charge
Internet call
charge
Internet penetration0.14% 3.13% 0.32% 8.50%Price/GDP per capita 13% 6% 7% 1%
UAE Internet
• UAE has more than half of the Internet host computers in region