The Intertwined story of the Arab Telecom boom

The intertwined story of the Arab telecom

boom & Arab Advisors Group

Jawad AbbassiFounder, General Manager

Amman Tech Tuesdays: Anniversary Edition

Amman May 3, 2011

An overview of the Arab Telecom and media boom over the past years.

Some primary research findings from Arab Advisors Group’s surveys.

How Arab Advisors positioned itself to provide a needed service profitably.

Outline

7 countries(37% )

3 countries(16% )

9 countries(47% )

13 countries(68% )6 countries

(32% )

Monopoly cellular markets disappeared

Source: Arab Advisors Group, March 2011

20112005

Competitive MonopolyDuopoly

Cellular regulatory framework

5 countries(26% )

10 countries(53% )

4 countries(21% )

1 country(5%)

17 countries(89% )

1 country(5%)

About half of the Arab countries still have a monopoly fixed market


20112005


Fixed regulatory framework

14 countries(74% )

1 country(5%)

4 countries(21% )

1 country(6%)

5 countries(28% )

12 countries(67% )

Most of the Arab countries have competitive Internet markets


20112005


Internet regulatory framework

The cellular boom has created millions of “citizen journalists” for social media and news stations. So PR is no more relations with the press only.

Note: Figures by June 2010, Yemen cellular subscribers are by July 2010 Source: Arab Advisors Group

Cellular penetration % Cellular lines (000s)

1,673

65,834

22,551

6,250

4,357

2,545.5

27,879

4,394

2,526

2,689

47,200

9,788

10,738

10,650

0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000

Bahrain

Egypt

I raq

J ordan

Kuwait

Lebanon

Morocco

Oman

Palestine

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

Syria

Tunisia

UAE

142.2%

83.8%

76.0%

103.4%

122.2%

63.7%

88.0%

144.2%

62.3%

165.0%

186.0%

48.1%

102.4%

228.5%

0%50%100%150%200%250%

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

Arab broadband accounts by June 2010

Notes: - Algeria, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia’s figures are estimated

Source: Arab Advisors Group

Fixed ADSL / Broadband lines (000s)Broadband lines % out of total population

1,464

1,191

749

698

482

439

252

213

136

102

64

52

44

0 1,000 2,000

Saudi Arabia

Egypt

UAE

Algeria

Morocco

Tunisia

J ordan

Kuwait

Qatar

Palestine

Yemen

Syria

Oman

5.8%

1.5%

16.0%

1.9%

1.5%

4.2%

4.2%

6.1%

8.3%

2.5%

0.3%

0.3%

1.5%

0%5%10%15%20%

Saudi Arabia

Egypt

UAE

Algeria

Morocco

Tunisia

J ordan

Kuwait

Qatar

Palestine

Yemen

Syria

Oman

Fixed broadband Internet: UAE, Bahrain and Qatar lead the broadband adoption in the

Arab World

Note: -The figures are for end of June 2010.

Source: Arab Advisors Group and OECD

Fixed Broadband lines % of total population

37.8

%

37.3

% 34.4

%

34.2

%

31.4

%

30.5

% 27.1

%

26.3

% 21.3

%

18.7

%

16.0

%

13.1

%

12.8

%

12.0

%

10.1

%

9.4

%

8.1

%

7.5

%

6.1

%

4.2

%

2.5

%

2.3

%

1.5

%

1.5

%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

Neth

erla

nd

s

Den

mark

Ko

rea

No

rw

ay

Fran

ce

Un

ited

Kin

gdom

Un

ited

Sta

tes

Jap

an

Ita

ly

Hu

ng

ary

UA

E

Po

lan

d

Bah

rain

Slo

vak R

ep

ub

lic

Mexic

o

Tu

rkey

Qata

r

Sau

di A

rab

ia

Ku

wait

Jo

rd

an

Pale

stin

e

Om

an

Mo

ro

cco

Eg

yp

t

1

23

Out of the 19 Arab countries, 15 countries commercially launched WiMAX

Operational, 79%

Licensed but not operational, 5%

Not licensed, 16%

Algeria

Bahrain

Iraq

Jordan

Kuwait

Lebanon

Libya

Mauritania

Morocco

Saudi Arabia

Tunisia

UAE

Oman

Qatar

Yemen

Syria

Egypt

Palestine

Sudan


Five more operators deployed 3G networks in the Arab World since December

2009

Oman

Qatar

Yemen

Syria

Egypt

Palestine

Source: Arab Advisors Group’s 3G/3.5G Cellular Services in the Arab World and operators

December 2009 March 2011

44%56%

Operators that offer 3G/3.5G services Operators that do not offer 3G/3.5G services

63%

37%

100

155

200 205

263290

370

474 487

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

J an-04 J ul-05 Nov-05 Apr-06 Oct-06 J an-07 Aug-07 Mar-09 Apr-10 Apr-11

540

Continuous growth in Free-To-Air satellite TV channels

53 channels added

* A rough estimate by Arab Advisors Group.Note: The satellite systems included in the analysis are Arabsat, Nilesat and Noorsat

Source: Arab Advisors Group’s Satellite TV in the Arab World 2010, and Arab Advisors Group

Consolidation at last in the Pay TV market: OSN with most channels.

Source: Pay TV providers

Consolidation of Pay TV providers

Nu

mb

er

of

Pay T

V c

han

nels

OSN82

OSN80

Orbit47

Showtime42

ART36

ART24

Al J azeera+2

AL J azeera+15

Al J azeera+15

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

November 2007 September 2010 February 2011

54.6%

66.1%59.3%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

KSA J ordan Egypt

Social media use has become a primary channel for online social interaction

Note: Percentages are calculated from the total sample size of KSA, Jordan and Egypt.

% of Internet users who use social media to interact with others online

Source: Arab Advisors Group’s Saudi Arabia Internet users and e-commerce Survey 2011, Jordan Internet users and e-commerce Survey 2010, Egypt Internet users and e-commerce Survey 2010

65.3% of Internet users in Saudi Arabia play games online

Note: percentages are calculated from the total sample size of 1,154 respondentsSource: Arab Advisors Group’s Saudi Arabia Internet and e-commerce Users Survey 2011

Yes65.3%

No34.7%

Whether respondents play games online

25.10%

14.30%

10.70%

5.62%4.10% 3.42% 3.09%

1.60%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

UAE SaudiArabia

Kuwait Oman Tunisia Jordan Bahrain Lebanon

UAE’s e-commerce users’ penetration stood at 25.1% while Lebanon’s stood at 1.6% of

total population

% of e-commerce users out of total population

Source: Arab Advisors Group’s Bahrain Cellular Users Survey 2008, Tunisia Internet users and e-commerce survey 2008, Oman Internet users and e-commerce survey 2009, Jordan Internet users and e-commerce survey 2008, Kuwait Cellular Users Survey, Lebanon Cellular Users Survey, Saudi Arabia Internet Users and e commerce survey, UAE Internet Users and e-commerce survey.

Jordan’s e-commerce status

• 15.4% of Internet users in Jordan are e-commerce users. The Arab Advisors Group conservatively estimates the number of Jordan Internet users who use e-commerce to be more than 181,000 which is around 3.0% of the total population in Jordan.

• These e-commerce users have spent an estimated US$ 192 million in e-commerce transactions (buying products, paying for services and paying bills online) in the past 12 months.

Source: Jordan Internet users and e-commerce survey 2010

Saudi Arabia is the region’s largest B2C e-commerce market

Total amount spent in 12 months (US$ Millions)

Source: Arab Advisors Group’s Bahrain Cellular Users Survey 2008, Tunisia Internet users and e-commerce survey 2008, Oman Internet users and e-commerce survey 2009, Jordan Internet users and e-commerce survey 2008, Kuwait Cellular Users Survey, Lebanon Cellular Users Survey, Saudi Arabia Internet Users and e commerce survey, UAE Internet Users and e-commerce survey.

* E-commerce expenditure during 2007** E-commerce expenditure during 2008

3,281

1,158

356236 181 133 76 28

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

SaudiArabia*

UAE* Kuwait* Oman* * Jordan* * Tunisia* * Lebanon* Bahrain* *

Arab Advisors Group: $22,000 into $5 million

• Started Arab Advisors in 2001 after 3 years in research industry in the US.

• Arab World liberalization around the dot.com bust. Global players shied away. We positioned Arab Advisors to provide reliable research in a rapidly liberalizing area. Any industry with multiple players, vendors and investor interest, requires a lot of research. Client base grew as Arab markets liberalized one after another.

• Sold 55% of Arab Advisors to AJIB in Sept 2005. Company profitable from year one with dividends also from year one.

• Team grew from 4 to 26. Client base of more than 650 clients worldwide.

• Land of opportunity is wherever you have a good Internet connection with smart well-educated people.

An invitation to join us at Arab Advisors Group's 8th Media and Telecoms Convergence Conference 2011

Meet the Arab World's Telecoms and Media leaders and decision makers, and receive complimentary comprehensive Arab Advisors Group's

reports.

June 6 & 7 2011 - Four Seasons Hotel.

– Contact the Arab Advisors Group for full details:– www.arabadvisors.com/Convergence/schedule.htm– 50% discount to all startups at Amman Tech Tuesdays

www.arabadvisors.comTel: 962.6.5828849Fax: 962.6.5828809

[email protected]

The Intertwined story of the Arab Telecom boom

Technology

Transcript of The Intertwined story of the Arab Telecom boom