UAE service providers attracted 801,000 new mobile phone users in 2011 to boost the total number of GSM subscribers to 11,727 at the end of the year, one of the biggest increases in the country’s telecom history.
In December alone, Etisalat and Du added 187,000 new GSM subscribers, the busiest month in 2011 and nearly 33,000 higher than in November, according to the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).
“The performance of the GSM sector in 2011 largely exceeded that in 2010,” said TRA, which oversees the telecom sector in the second largest Arab economy.
Its figures showed around 10.355 million of the UAE GSM users are pre-pay subscribers and the rest are on a monthly bill basis.
The report did not mention the mobile phone penetration ratio in the UAE but at the end of 2010, it stood at around 134 per cent for a population of 8.2 million.
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