Mideast posts growth in broadband numbers |
|
Share With Members!
Text Size 
The Middle East has witnessed a growth in wireless and broadband subscribers despite the global market showing a decline in 2009, a new research has found.
According to TeleGeography, a telecommunications research, analysis and consulting company, wireless subscribers in the Middle East at the end of Q1 2009 were at 232 million, which is a three per cent growth from Q4 2008 and a 22 per cent growth from Q1 of that year.
Globally, wireless subscriber additions in Q1 2009 declined slightly, as 153 million net new subscribers were added, 10 million fewer than in Q4 2008.
About 49 per cent of Q1 wireless subscriber growth came from India and China; growth slowed in many other markets, with Western and Eastern Europe being particularly slow. Countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom were all essentially flat or even in slight decline
John Dinsdale from TeleGeography Research, said: "Broadband subscribers at the end of Q1 2009 in the Middle East were at 12 million - a four per cent growth from Q4 2008 and a 25 per cent growth from Q1 2008. Globally, broadband subscriptions during the quarter were at 14 million, in line with Q4 2008 additions. China accounted for 30 per cent of global growth, while the United States was the only other country to add more than one million subscribers in the quarter."
However, the Middle East did have to catch up in the telecom service provider segment, Dinsdale said. "Of the world's top 20 telecom service providers, none are headquartered in the Middle East, and Saudi Telecom (STC) was the only one closest to joining the list."
The top 20 global service providers generated $251 billion (Dh921.1bn) in revenues during the first three months of 2009, three per cent up on Q108, but one per cent down on Q408. Even the top 10 telecom technology vendors saw revenues down by five per cent from Q108 as they generated $59bn during the quarter. This is a 15 per cent drop from the last quarter.
"Many may see this as bad news, but reaction ought to be tempered in the light of the cyclical nature of the market; the final quarter of any year tends to be the biggest quarter for sales and there is often a drop-off experienced in the first quarter of a new year. That said, in 2009 the global recession has clearly affected the market," Dinsdale said.
The global telecom service market is experiencing a gradual slowdown in growth, caused not by the world economy but by near saturation in many well-developed markets. The growth in this market has been more than six per cent but TeleGeography forecasts that growth will fall to an average 3.5 per cent over the next five years.
"Against this backdrop, the three per cent year-on-year revenue growth for the top 20 service providers can be seen as too sharp a fall, happening too soon. It should also be noted that the three per cent growth is bolstered from mergers and acquisitions, and is not just organic growth. The best organic growth performance came from China Mobile, Vodafone and America Movil," he added.
Set against the longer-term trends the quarterly growth for wireless and broadband subscribers were a bit on the soft side, but they are still reporting decent growth despite a trying global economic environment.
The biggest hit in the quarter was clearly on the telecom equipment vendors, which have been hit with a triple whammy of reduced spending by consumers, service providers and enterprises alike.
China's Huawei, India's RIM, and the Korean Samsung and LGE had at least some cause to be pleased with their Q1 revenues, while Nokia, Cisco, Motorola and Alcatel-Lucent will be struggling to take any good news from theirs.
Bottom of the class Nortel, meanwhile, dropped out of the Top 10 ranking altogether.
By Nancy Sudheer
© Emirates Business 24/7 2009
x
DISCLAIMER
Zawya is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties and subscribers. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by those third parties, including information providers, subscribers or other users of the Service, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of the Company. The Company neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on the Service by anyone other than authorized Service employee spokespersons while acting in their official capacities. The Company is not responsible for any infringement of intellectual property rights or breach of any applicable law or regulation, including regulation in relation to financial services or the distribution of financial products, defamation, data protection, telecommunications (including regulations relating to excessive use, spamming or other abusive activities) or obscene, offensive or illegal content). Under no circumstances will the Company be liable for any loss or damage caused by a member's reliance on information obtained through the Service. It is the responsibility of member to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through the Service. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.
Read the full Member Agreement
http://www.zawya.com/legal/NewsLetter.cfm?name=disclaimer
Zawya is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties and subscribers. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by those third parties, including information providers, subscribers or other users of the Service, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of the Company. The Company neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on the Service by anyone other than authorized Service employee spokespersons while acting in their official capacities. The Company is not responsible for any infringement of intellectual property rights or breach of any applicable law or regulation, including regulation in relation to financial services or the distribution of financial products, defamation, data protection, telecommunications (including regulations relating to excessive use, spamming or other abusive activities) or obscene, offensive or illegal content). Under no circumstances will the Company be liable for any loss or damage caused by a member's reliance on information obtained through the Service. It is the responsibility of member to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through the Service. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.
Read the full Member Agreement
http://www.zawya.com/legal/NewsLetter.cfm?name=disclaimer
Community Comments (0) - 
Comment on this article 
Comment on this article
The opinions of the authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect Zawya. Read our Comment Policy.
Loading ...
Zawya Comment Policy:
-
Zawya encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You agree that when you add content to this discussion your comments will not:
1.1 Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
1.2 Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
1.3 Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
1.4 Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
1.5 Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
1.6 Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
1.7 Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse. - The content posted on www.zawya.com is created by members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of Zawya. Zawya reserves the right to review all comments prior to posting and edit or delete any contribution, but Zawya is not responsible for and can not be held liable for any content posted by members of the public on www.zawya.com.
- Zawya is not responsible for the availability or content of any third party sites that are accessible through www.zawya.com. Any links to third party websites from www.zawya.com do not amount to any endorsement of that site by Zawya and any use of that site by you is at your own risk.
- By submitting your comment, you hereby give Zawya the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comments worldwide, in perpetuity.
Loading ...Community Buzz
Stories
Companies
Most viewed companies by Community in the last 24 hrs
| Company Name | Country | Industry |
| Consolidated Contractors Company | Overseas | Construction and Design |
| Zuhair Fayez Partnership Consultants | Saudi Arabia | Construction and Design |
| Saudi Binladin Group | Saudi Arabia | Construction and Design |
| Saudi Electricity Company | Saudi Arabia | Electric Utilities |
| Saudi Telecom | Saudi Arabia | Telecommunications Services |
| Barwa Real Estate Company | Qatar | Landlords and Developers |
| Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company | UAE | Oil |
| Ministry of Health - Kuwait | Kuwait | Ministries and Municipalities |
| Ministry of Health - Saudi Arabia | Saudi Arabia | Ministries and Municipalities |
| Roads and Transport Authority - Dubai | UAE | Regulatory and Administrative Bodies |
Projects
Most viewed projects by Community in the last 24 hrs
| Project Name | Country | Sector |
| ENEC - Nuclear Power Plant | UAE | Power and Water |
| Abu Dhabi DOT - Abu Dhabi Metro | UAE | Infrastructure |
| Takreer - Ruwais Refinery Expansion | UAE | Oil and Gas |
| Aramco/Dow Chemical - Ras Tanura Integrated Refinery and Petrochemicals Complex | Saudi Arabia | Oil and Gas |
| SATORP - Jubail Refinery and Petrochemical Complex | Saudi Arabia | Oil and Gas |
| Abu Dhabi Ports Company - Khalifa Port and Industrial Zone (KPIZ) | UAE | Infrastructure |
| Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) - Smelter Complex - Phase 1 | UAE | Industry |
| Dubai RTA - Dubai Metro | UAE | Infrastructure |
| ADNOC/ConocoPhillips - Sour Gas Fields Development - Shah Field | UAE | Oil and Gas |
| Dubai Racing Club - Meydan City - Meydan Racecourse | UAE | Real Estate |