Qatar’s Mobile Penetration Rate Re-visited
Recently, a study by Kuwaiti-based Inter-Arab Investment Guarantee Corporation (IAIGC), put Qatar’s mobile penetration at 150% as of 2007-end, behind only the UAE’s 173% penetration rate in the entire Arab world.
But Vodafone, which will be the second mobile operator in Qatar and which is preparing for a service roll out towards 2009, disagrees with those numbers, and state that the mobile penetration rate in the country stood at only 94% as of December 31, 2007.
“Recent government released reports on Qatar’s population (included in your article) state that it is near 1.5mn. Based on this and Qtel’s published customer numbers, the actual penetration is only 94%.
“Qtel subscriber base as at December 31, 2007 was 1,260,000 which divided by new population of 1,448,000 gives an 87% penetration rate. Or if you take the latest population and adjust it back to December 31, 2007 (i.e. 1,337,000) you get a more accurate 94% penetration and not 150%,” Vodafone Qatar Chief Executive Officer Grahame Maher said.
Maher said, “Also, the population in Qatar continues to change on an annual basis as expatriates arrive and leave on an average time frame of three years. Finally, with more and more capability of devices for service such as email and mobile computing we believe that many people will have multiple mobile devices. Based on this we believe there is significant growth opportunities in the country.”
An ictQATAR spokesman said, “We estimate that at the end of 2008 the mobile penetration rate for Qatar will be around 94%. As you are aware, different reports use different methodologies to determine mobile penetration numbers. Our estimate is likely lower than the number in the Inter-Arab Investment Guarantee Corporation study because of the steady, significant increase in population of Qatar and our recognition of the many pre-paid users in Qatar’s market, which can lead to inflated estimates.”
He said, “Regionally, Qatar does boast of some of the highest penetration rates in fixed line and mobile and ictQATAR expects that percentage to rise considerably in future. Also, as a result of liberalisation in the telecoms market, we expect to see high speed internet penetration rise from its current rate of 37% to approximately 56% by 2012.”
# Source: Gulf News
