Information Society Statistical Profiles 2009 – Arab States

The sixth report of a series of regional statistical profiles on the information society prepared for the World Telecommunication Development Conference in 2010. In the past decade in the Arab region, mobile telephony has grown 55% annually, Internet users per 100 inhabitants has increased from 4 to 16, and mobile penetration level is now at 63%. Income disparities correlate to differences in ICT development with countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the UAE with high ICT uptake and poorer countries such as Comoros, Djibouti, Mauritania, Sudan, and Yemen with low ICT penetration levels. High-population countries such as Egypt and Sudan provide important growth markets for ICT services such as mobile subscriptions, Internet, and broadband. In order to increase ICT access in the Arab States, there must be market liberalization, high-speed network deployment, and an enabling environment for next-generation ICT infrastructure. This report highlights ICT developments in the Arab States, provides statistical indicators for each country, and features two benchmarking tools – the ITU ICT Deployment Index (IDI) and the ICT Price Basket – to analyze the Arab region. It provides a market overview in fixed and mobile telephony, Internet and broadband in the Arab region.