Middle East & North Africa Telecommunications

An Arab Advisors Group survey of cellular phone users in Saudi Arabia has revealed that 39.6% have more than one line, with more than half of these choosing to have the second mobile line from a different network operator. The need for separate business and personal lines was the main reason for 53.9% of those […]

South African cellphone operator MTN has started commercial operations in Iran, aiming for a million subscribers by the end of the year, the group said.
MTN said in a statement that Irancell, in which it holds a 49 per cent stake, began operations on Oct 21 by releasing 350,000 SIM cards into the market.
The group’s coverage […]

Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) announced today that penetration of mobile phones in the UAE has exceeded 120 per cent, taking UAE to the top of the list of Arab nations, and among the highest in the world.
These figures were arrived at after the results of the official census of the UAE population was announced, which […]

DUBAI: Mobile phone use in the Arab world surged 70 per cent in 2005, boosted by lower prices due to more competition, a study said yesterday.
The study by Dubai-based Madar Research said mobile phone subscriptions in Arab countries jumped to 87.06 million by the end of 2005 from 51.19m at end-2004, equivalent to a pan-Arab […]

AMMAN — Fastlink, a member of the Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC), increased the number of its subscribers by 51 per cent and raised its revenue by 10 per cent during the first half of this year.
According to a press statement from the Kuwaiti-based MTC, the subscribers of Fastlink reached 2.17 million at the end of […]

Dubai: Bahrain tops the region in mobile penetration rate while the UAE stands second, according to a research.
Bahrain recorded the highest mobile penetration rate in 2005, which stood at 117 per cent followed by the UAE at 99 per cent.
In early 2006, the ratio of mobile penetration to fixed-line penetration was 365 per cent in […]

Last week, the mobile phone industry celebrated connected the second billionth GSM mobile phone user in the world, according from figures for the GSM Association.
The GSMA said that new users are signing up at the rate of 1,000 per minute (just under 18 per second) to services that include both second […]

The Saudi Telecom Company is looking into the reasons for its unsuccessful bid for Egypt’s third mobile phone licence, reported Arab News. The STC had submitted a bid alongside Malaysian telecom firm TMI and the Egyptian company BICO. An STC statement yesterday said that the disqualification from the bidding process was due to technical reasons.

Saudi Arabia will next month allow regional and international telecommunication providers to apply for new licences, with Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Corp. and Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Holding the front runners, a senior Saudi official said.
The kingdom’s telecoms regulator, the Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), aims to grant “more than one” licence in both the […]

Saudi Arabia will next month allow regional and international telecommunication providers to apply for new licences, with Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Corp. and Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Holding the front runners, a senior Saudi official said.
The kingdom’s telecoms regulator, the Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), aims to grant “more than one” licence in both the […]