StartUpArabia

According to a new study by Kuwaiti-based Inter-Arab Investment Guarantee Corporation (IAIGC), a key Arab League body, the UAE had the highest mobile phone penetration in the Arab world at the end of 2007, with its subscribers far exceeding its population.

Figures showed the number of mobile phone subscribers in the country stood at 7.6 million at the end of last year a ratio as high as 173 to each 100 people.

The figure is far higher than any other Arab state and more than triple the world average of 49.3 for every 100 people.

Qatar came second, with a ratio of 150.4 mobile phone per 100 people. It was followed by Bahrain with 148.2, Saudi Arabia with 114.7, Kuwait with 97.2 and Oman with 96.3.

Outside the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Jordan topped the list, with a ratio of 80.5 per each 100 persons, followed by Tunisia, Libya and Morocco.

Djibouti and Somalia were at the bottom of the list, having one of the world’s lowest mobile phone penetration at 5.4 and 6.8 respectively.

The figures showed the UAE’s penetration was more than triple the average Arab ratio of 50.8 and the world average of 49.3 at the end of 2007. Between 2002 and 2007, the number of mobile phone subscribers in the UAE grew by an annual average 25.6 per cent, almost four times its population growth. But the level was far lower than growth in some other Arab countries as it was as high as 270 per cent in war-battered Iraq and 129.9 per cent in Libya. Experts believe the UAE will maintain its high mobile phone penetration this year given the rapid growth in subscribers and in its economy.