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United Arab Emirates Telecommunications Report Q4 2010
Business Monitor International, Oct 2010, Pages: 88
United Arab Emirates Telecommunications Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, telecommunication associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on the United Arab Emirates' telecommunications industry.
In this quarter’s UAE Telecommunications Report, have provided H110 figures for all sectors: fixedline, internet, broadband and mobile, following the publication of data by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) and fixed and mobile operators Etisalat and Emirates Integrated Telecommunication Company (du). In addition, a number of regulatory changes have occurred: including the restriction of Blackberry services in the country.
The publication of mobile data by Etisalat and du revealed the total number of subscribers reached 11.721mn the first half of 2010, rather than the 10.650mn as published by the TRA. The difference is a result of Etisalat not discrediting its inactive subscriber base, while the regulator and du only count active subscribers. The cut-off point is 90 days. This reveals that market growth, which slowed significantly in 2009, rising just 14.5% compared with 34.5% in the previous year, remained muted in the first half of 2010, after declining marginally by 0.2% in H110, according to TRA figures. With penetration rates of about 200%, it is not surprising that the market is showing signs of a slowdown. However, expect a reversal of the mass exodus of expatriates, following Dubai’s financial crisis in 2009, to be a strong platform for future growth as the local economy recovers.
Perhaps the most prominent issue in the UAE’s telecoms sphere in the first nine months of 2010 was the dispute between the UAE government and Canada-based Research In Motion, makers of the Blackberry Device. On August 1 2010, the UAE government announced it would restrict key features of the Blackberry device from October 2010 if the security concerns regarding the device’s secure messaging system were not resolved. Etisalat and du withdrew the product from their stores and offered replacement smartphones from other manufacturers. However, the matter was resolved and no suspension of the service will occur after the telecoms regulator reached a deal with Research in Motion that brought the BlackBerry devices into compliance with local laws. Encouraged by the revision to the country’s VoIP regulations, which will allow alternative service providers like Skype to offer their services in partnership with a licensed VoIP operator. Google, which launched a voice service for users of its Gmail service in the US, is believed to be interested in releasing the service in the UAE where there is strong demand for international calling. However, do not foresee any significant changes occurring to the broadband market in the immediate term from the introduction of VoIP services.
The broadband sector grew substantially in the first half of 2010. By contrast, dial-up connections declined for the time in Q210. At the end of June 2010, there were 1.452mn internet subscribers in the UAE. About 51.6% of this number were broadband subscribers, up from 49% in December 2009. Meanwhile, fixed-line subscriptions fell 0.13% and 2% q-o-q in Q110 and Q210 respectively to reach 1.559mn and 1.527mn.
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