Tag: internet penetration

WebDialn@ Study Of Algerian Internet Users Results

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AlgeriaA new study entitled WebDialn@ (meaning ‘our web’ in the Arab Algerian accent) by Med&Com and Ideatic that polled about 6,000 Algerian internet users on ADSL, mobile internet, online advertising and e-commerce, estimates that 4.5 million people (12.8% of the Algerian population) use the internet, and that they heavily rely on it for news, research and activities such as social networking.

75% of Algerian internet users call the web an “indispensable tool”, with more than 90% confessing to “not being able to get by without going online ‘at least once a day'”. Most users reported spending two hours on average in front of their monitors.

The study also shows a gender gap and regional disparities in internet use. The typical Algerian Web user is described as male (72.2%), aged between 20 and 29 (29.2%), educated at least to the baccalaureate level + 1 (66.2%), and living in Algiers (29.28%). However, women represent just 25.8% of Algerian Web users.

The researchers reported that 82.6% of Web users communicate via email. Of this percentage, 42.5% also use instant messaging (such as MSN or Yahoo Messenger), 33.8% visit discussion forums, 33% make telephone calls over the Internet (Skype), and 9.9% use video conferencing.

Online media are the Algerian web users’ top online destinations, with 80.8% reading online newspapers, 19.9% listening to the radio, and 11.4% watching TV programmes. The internet is also used for research (80.7%) and making business contacts (22.9%). Social networks seem to be quite popular too with 40% of respondents having profiles on Facebook.

The study also shows that Algerians aren’t very active contributors, with 82.2% visiting online media-sharing sites (YouTube, DailyMotion, Flickr), but only 23.5% contributing.

Numbers from the Algerian Post and ICT Ministry say that there are 585,455 residential ADSL subscribers in the country. Nearly 65% of those surveyed said they can log on from home, compared with 24.6% who log on at work. Over 61% of web users say there are at least three people using the internet in a single home. Youth clubs and libraries with internet access, which used to be crammed, are hosting fewer users.

Some 72.1% of users say they are unsatisfied with the speed of their connection at home, and 79.7% complain about frequent service outages. 53.8% of Web users think the connection rates are affordable, while 43.8% of them think subscription rates are expensive or very expensive.

A presentation of the study results is available here in French: WebDialn@ Study Results (PDF)

[Source: Magharebia]

MENA Broadband Subscribers To Reach 27 Million By 2014

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Informa Telecoms & MediaAccording to Informa Telecoms & Media’s new Middle East & North Africa Broadband report, the MENA region will continue to experience some of the world’s highest growth rates in broadband subscriber numbers.

The report states that the 66 percent growth that the region witnessed in 2008 will be leveling out at around 24.9 percent (compound annual growth rate) by 2014. At that point there should be a total of 27 million high-speed internet subscriptions in the region, up from the 7.1 Million subscriptions in Q1 2009..

The report cites the demand for media services as one of the major bandwidth drivers.

“The prospects for broadband in the MENA region will continue to grow as operators improve infrastructure to make their services more attractive with multi-play offers. In addition media companies will begin to respond with more relevant online content aimed specifically at the region,” said Mohammed Hamza, senior broadband analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media.

“Operators across the region are beginning to invest heavily in getting high-speed, high-capacity and cost effective telecoms networks into the region and the current infrastructure is much more advanced than perhaps they have been given credit for,” added Hamza.

The largest broadband subscription bases in the MENA region are in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Algeria, Morocco and Iran; representing 79 percent of the MENA’s total broadband subscriptions – 3.8 million from a total of 4.8 million.

Eight countries in the region had a household penetration of more than 10 percent at the end of 2008 – four exceeded 60 percent and two were greater than 70 percent, the report said.

However, excluding the top four, the average penetration rate across the region was just 8.7 percent.

[Source: Digital Production Middle East, Arabian Business]

Growing Internet Usage In The Middle East & North Africa

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EuromonitorAccess to the Internet has been expanding dramatically in the Middle East and North Africa over the past years. A new study by Euromonitor International provides some interesting general key indicators, as well as some indicators on the effect of this growth on the business environment, government and future prospects.

The following is a selection of some of the key points from the study:

  • Internet access in the Middle East and North Africa has expanded rapidly since 2003, reaching 85.5 million users in 2008, or 5.2% of the world’s users (The study includes Iran in these numbers);
  • Internet users in the region are typically under 35 years old and predominantly male, although there are indications that the digital gap between men and women is narrowing;
  • The young profile makes Internet users a promising consumer market as they are more likely to be influenced by global consumer trends. The dominance of Arabic is an advantage as it allows addressing a wide audience in many countries;
  • The spread of the Internet is part of a wider trend of growing access to media and communications in the region. In the 1990s and 2000s satellite TV systems and mobile phones became a standard household item even in poor countries in the Middle East;
  • Judging by blogs, Internet users seek primarily content relating closely to their country, rather than regional issues. Thus, bloggers tend to cluster according to country with interests varying between politics, religion and culture;
  • Online retailing offers consumers greater choice and convenience. Internet retailing is developing rapidly in the region, especially (though not exclusively) in the small Gulf states such as Kuwait and UAE. From international brand megastores offering electronics and entertainment products, to family-owned sweet shops, businesses are expanding their online presence to capture the growing market;
  • Internet literacy improves chances in the labour market. In addition, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector is growing across the Middle East and North Africa, providing employment opportunities in countries such as Jordan and Egypt, which suffer from high unemployment;
  • Governments across the region are investing in e-government. According to a United Nations survey from 2008, UAE, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Egypt all substantially improved their e-government services between 2005 and 2008, and their level of readiness was above the global average. New e-government services in Middle East countries included online consultation, forms downloading and submission, and online payments for government services.
For more indicators from the study, you can go here:
Regional Focus: Growing Internet usage in the Middle East and North Africa

TeleGeography: Middle East Sees Growth In Broadband Numbers

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The Middle East has witnessed a growth in wireless and broadband subscribers despite the global market showing a decline in 2009, a new research has found.

According to TeleGeography, a telecommunications research, analysis and consulting company, wireless subscribers in the Middle East at the end of Q1 2009 were at 232 million, which is a three per cent growth from Q4 2008 and a 22 per cent growth from Q1 of that year.

Globally, wireless subscriber additions in Q1 2009 declined slightly, as 153 million net new subscribers were added, 10 million fewer than in Q4 2008.

About 49 per cent of Q1 wireless subscriber growth came from India and China; growth slowed in many other markets, with Western and Eastern Europe being particularly slow. Countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom were all essentially flat or even in slight decline

John Dinsdale from TeleGeography Research, said: “Broadband subscribers at the end of Q1 2009 in the Middle East were at 12 million – a four per cent growth from Q4 2008 and a 25 per cent growth from Q1 2008. Globally, broadband subscriptions during the quarter were at 14 million, in line with Q4 2008 additions. China accounted for 30 per cent of global growth, while the United States was the only other country to add more than one million subscribers in the quarter.”

However, the Middle East did have to catch up in the telecom service provider segment, Dinsdale said. “Of the world’s top 20 telecom service providers, none are headquartered in the Middle East, and Saudi Telecom (STC) was the only one closest to joining the list.”

[Source: Zawya]

Tunisia: Number Of Internet Users Reaches 2.8 Million

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TunisiaThe number of internet users has reached nearly 2,8 Million and the ADSL networking rate stands at 11,1 Gigabits per second, said Mrs Lamia Chaffai Sghaier, the Secretary of State in charge of computers and free software at the opening of the first edition of “2009 Technology Days on information systems” (JTSI 2009), which began at the El Ghazala technological park a couple of days ago.

The aim of the event is to offer a space of exchange and reflection to the many economic stakeholders involved in ICT. JTSI 2009 presents a number of case studies, discussion panels and workshops.

The Secretary of State talked about the government’s push to boost ICT among industrial units with a view of increasing their competitiveness and creating employment opportunities; as well as the development of the ADSL basic infrastructure services, through the use of optic fibres, to cover 300 industrial areas.

She also said that the government has launched a program aimed at generalizing the use of the internet within the administration through the creation of specialized computer centres.
The setup of an integrated administrative network is currently underway, she said.

[Source: Tunisia Online News]

Strong Growth For Moroccan Internet & Mobile Phone Sectors

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MoroccoAccording to recent market indicators from the National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ANRT), the internet and mobile sectors in Morocco continue to see strong and sustainable growth.

The growth has been fueled by a boom in 3G Internet and the sustained growth of mobile telephone subscriptions.

Morocco now has more than 21.5 million customers in the mobile sector, equalling a 70% penetration rate. In terms of market share, Maroc Telecom covers 66.37% of the market, compared to 33.37% for Médi Telecom.
Of these mobile customers, most are pre-paid users, with only 4% on contract.
The recent entrance of a third mobile operator, Wana, promises more growth in the mobile market. 

As for the internet, the Morocco now has more than 650,000 subscribers; representing a growth of 37% compared with June of last year. New entrant Wana (in the 3G internet sector) holds 18% of the market in comparison to 76% for Maroc Telecom and 4% for Médi Telecom.

Regarding 3G internet penetration, it rose to around 160,000 subscribers in June 2008, with a growth rate of more than 553% in a single year, making 3G the second most popular way of accessing the Internet in Morocco, holding 24% of the market compared to ADSL’s 74%.

The number of fixed-line telephone customers has also continued to grow, recently surpassing 2.7 million, which represents a penetration rate of 9% of the population. This number encompasses residential subscribers, businesses, as well as payphones. The fixed telephony market is split almost equally by Maroc Telecom and Wana.

Jordan’s Internet Penetration Rate Grows To 21%

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Flag of JordanAccording to official numbers released by the Jordanian Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, the number of internet users in the kingdom reached 1.2 millions users at the end of the first half of 2008, which represents a penetration rate of more than 20.5% of the Jordanian population which currently stands at around 6 million.

The numbers show a growth of more than 1.5% happening in the second quarter of this year in comparison to the first quarter, as the rate back at the end of the first quarter was just under 19%. The penetration stood at 17% at the end of 2007.

According to the reported numbers, 16% of Jordanian households have internet access; with differences in the percentage between urban and rural areas, which is explained by the still relatively high cost of computers and internet services.

The national strategy for the telecommunications sector aims to reach an internet penetration rate of 50% by end of 2011. The government has actually lowered the sales tax on internet related services from 16% to 8% to help spread internet services and grow the internet user base in the kingdom.

# Source: Arabian Business

Growth In Tunisian Mobile And Internet Users

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TunisiaFigures recently released by the Ministry of Communication Technologies reveal a significant growth of mobile phone and internet users in Tunisia. In June 2008 the two mobile phone operators (Tunisie Telecom and Tunisiana) had a combined 8.12 million mobile phone subscribers up from 7 million twelve months earlier.

At the same point, there were 2.68 million internet users compared to 1.68 million in June 2007. The number of ADSL connections has doubled from 76,000 in 2007 to 153,000 in 2008. 27% of users have 512KB connections, and 22,000 users have a connection equal or superior to 1Mbps.

The number of companies benefiting from WiMAX connections reached 700 at the end of June 2008, and the number of subscribers to data sending through VSAT had also increased to reach 420, notably among enterprises producing software and computer systems and call centres.

# Source: TeleGeography
# Via: Wireless Tunisia

Challenges To Web 2.0 In The Arab World

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This guest blog is by Mohamed Nanabhay , Head of New Media at the AlJazeera Network based in Doha, Qatar.

Launching an internet company in the the region can be a challenging endevour. While there is lots of startup activity going on, it is worthwhile looking at what those challenges are when starting up or assessing the success rate of the newest kid on the block. The three big challenges facing entrepreneurs in the region are:

  1. Low internet penetration
    Across the entire Middle East and North Africa (MENA), you’re looking at approximately 25 million internet users (of which less than 6 million have broadband). But that doesn’t give you an accurate figure for the size of the market – to get that number we need to remove Iran and Israel which leaves us with an astonishing figure of under 10 million internet users and about 3 million broadband users.Whichever way you look at it, 10 million is not a big number. To put it into perspective, France alone has nearly 16 million internet users (with 12 million broadband users) but entrepreneurs are finding it difficult to start-up just for the French market. Loic Le Meur tells the story of Richard Branson telling him that his problem was that he was French which limited his market. Loic has moved to decided that it was too small a market to start Seesmic in so he moved to San Francisco.

    This of course does not mean it is impossible to build a company or site for the Arabic interweb, it just means that there is a problem of scale.

  2. Online advertising market immature
    So even if you managed to capture a sizable chunk of the online audience, you’re faced with a problem of revenue generation. Forget trying to build a business based on a subscription model (which is so 1.0 anyway) since credit card penetration is probably lower than internet penetration. So what you’re left with is seeking out online advertising or sponsorship.I have yet to see a serious player in this market (if you know of one please let me know ASAP) which sadly means that there is no serious underlying business model. This is changing slowly – Google has setup shop in the region and has been promoting Adwords to the marketing folk but I suspect it will take some time before we see impressive CPMs.
  3. The environment is not conducive for startups
    But even if there was an advertising model that worked, we’re still left with the fact that there isn’t a strong internet startup culture and most online plays lack any serious innovation. Even the sweet services from the TootCorp gang are more or less localised versions of Silicon Valley startups (Ikbis = Youtube & Watwet =Twitter).Of course, this problem isn’t limited to the region but it should be something people are concerned about. I’ve seen people being put down in so many ways when trying to launch something new and novel. I have two university students interning for me – they are super-smart, motivated and hardworking. There is no reason that they couldn’t build a rockin’ internet company. Unfortunately I’ve seen many people (from lecturers to people who should get it) continually being totally hostile to the web projects they work on. Definitely not the way to foster innovation….

    And lest we forget the bureaucracy…

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