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Saudi Arabia is the Arab World’s mostcompetitive cellular marketThe Arab Advisors Groupreleased the results of itsCellular Competition IntensityIndex 2011 this month atthe margin of the 8th annualMedia and Telecoms ConvergenceConference in Amman onJune 6 & 7 2011. Theindex ranks SaudiArabia as the mostcompetitive Arabcellular market.Jordan camein second,followed byPalestine.The Cellular CompetitionIntensityIndex results forApril 2011 revealedthat Saudi Arabiatops the score –as themost competitive Arab marketwitha 76.01% mark followedby Jordan (75.37%), Palestine(69.61%), Oman (69.52%),Egypt (68.18%), Morocco(64.72%), Iraq (64.32%),Tunisia (63.23%), Bahrain(61.25%), Algeria (61.17%),Yemen (58.61%), Mauritania(57.07%), Sudan (55.68%),Kuwait (54.58%), Qatar(48.24%), UAE (47.17%), Syria(42.18%), Libya (33.97%),and finally Lebanon (33.80%).The Cellular CompetitionIntensity Index is relative innature as it compares the stateof every market relative toother markets. As such, evenif a market’s absolute level ofcompetition improved, its scorein this relative index will alsodepend on how other marketsdeveloped. The 2011 indexresults revealed that four countriesranked higher than theirMay 2010 index ranks, theseare: Algeria, Bahrain, SaudiArabia and Mauritania. Meanwhile,a total of three countriesranked lower compared to May2010 index, namely:Jordan, Sudan,and Yemen.The 2011 index resultsrevealed that fourcountries ranked higherthan their May 2010index ranks, these are:Algeria, Bahrain, SaudiArabia and Mauritania.The remainingtwelve countriesof Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya,Lebanon, Morocco, Oman,Palestine, Qatar,Syria, Tunisia andUAE maintainedtheir May 2010ranks.The ArabAdvisorsGroupdevisedtheCellularCompetitionIntensity Index torate and to examinethe intensitylevel of competitionin the ArabWorld’s cellular markets. Theindex takes into account thenumber of operators, packages,and services available in eachof the 19 countries coveredby the Arab Advisors Group.Each category was assigned acertain weight according to itsimportance as an indicator ofcompetition. The categoriesinclude the following: Numberof licensed and expectedoperators in 2011, number ofworking operators, marketshare of largest operator, numberof prepaid plans, number ofpostpaid plans, availability ofsmart phone plans, availabilityof corporate offers, availabilityof 3G services and the availabilityof ILD (InternationalLong Distance) competition.A new report, “CompetitionLevels in Arab Cellular Markets”was released to the ArabAdvisors Group’s Telecoms StrategicResearch Service subscribersin May 2011. This reportcan beArabpurchased from theAdvisors Groupfor only US$950. The“Saudi Arabia hosts four operationaland licensed operators.Consumers have a choiceof nineteen prepaid plans andtwenty three postpaid plans.Saudi Arabia’s score benefitedfrom the availability of smartphone plans, corporate offers,3G services and ILD competition.”reportranks the ArabWorld countriesaccording to their cellular competitionintensity level, basedon a methodological approach.Dana KhatibPlease contact the Arab AdvisorsGroup to get a copy of thereport’s Table of Contents.Any investment in this reportwill count towards an annualStrategic Research Servicesubscription, our could counttowards attending Arab Advisors’8th annual Media andTelecoms Convergence Conferenceon June 6 & 7, 2011 at theFour Seasons in Amman.Zain is the main sponsor ofthe conference; Qualcomm,Arabsat,Motorola, Umniah, Ericsson,Orange and Oracle are amongthe companies who are sponsoringthe event. Telecom andMedia operators can send upto 2 delegates to attend at nocharge. Press members can alsoattend at no charge.“The Arab Advisors Groupadded the “Smart phonespackages availability” indicatorfor the 2011 index. This camein line with the increasedadoption of mobile broadbandand smart phone usagein the MENA region whichcontributes to the overallcompetiveness in thecountry.” Mrs. FatenBader, Arab AdvisorsGroup senior researchanalyst commented.“Saudi Arabia hosts four operationaland licensed operators.Consumers have a choiceof nineteen prepaid plans andtwenty three postpaid plans.Saudi Arabia’s score benefitedfrom the availability of smartphone plans, corporate offers,3G services and ILD competition.”Ms. Zeena Al Borgan,Arab Advisors Group seniorresearch analyst added. T56 www.teletimesinternational.com15Jun - 14Jul 2011