66% UAE households have internet access

It also showed that 87 per cent of household internet connections are broadband, with this rate increasing to 95 per cent among national households. About 74 per cent of households have at least one computer, and 72 per cent of the UAE population aged between 15 and 74 used the Internet in the last12 months, although not necessarily from the home.

 

The private sector in the UAE makes intensive use of ICT in their business operations with 97 per cent of private sector establishments having computer, 81 per cent of employees use a computer at work. About 82 per cent of establishments have a website. Meanwhile, 26 per cent of businesses have made online sales, while 29 per cent have made online purchases, the survey revealed.

 

The comprehensive survey, which lasted for six months, was conducted by TRA to measure the accessibility and the usage of the ICT in the UAE, and covered seven vital sectors considered the biggest of its kind in the UAE history, said a release from TRA.

 

The vast majority of school students, 84 per cent, use the internet at their schools. On average, 99 per cent of educational establishments have a computer laboratory and each school has, on average, 38 laboratory computers.

 

Meanwhile, 93 per cent of schools have an internet connection, with DSL being the most popular, and 95 per cent of teachers have undertaken some form of professional ICT qualification, showed the survey.

 

The survey also covered the penetration of ICT in higher educational establishments, government sector, business sector and public internet access centres.

 

Given the importance of the role played by the telecom sector and its relevance to many economic, educational and social activities, the TRA decided that the survey covers seven sectors: households, private sector, education establishments, higher education establishments, government, ICT business sector and public internet access center establishment (PIAC).

 

Mohamed Al Ghanim, TRA Director-General, said: "The survey results provide a realistic picture of the development achieved in ICT sector during the recent years. The latest international methods and technologies had been used while conducting the survey to ensure the maximum degree of credibility."

 

Prior to the survey and in order to identify, minimise and correct errors, a variety of quality control measures was applied by the TRA while collecting the data.

 

The first phase paid attention to the wording and the meaning of the survey questions, making it simple and direct. The sample sizes were estimated using proportional allocations, with an error margin of 3 per cent and a confidence level of 95 per cent.

 

During the second phase - field research - face-to-face interview was the primary mode used in the survey followed by telephone calls to ensure the data validation and to confirm that the field researchers had conducted the survey with the right respondents.

 

The findings of the survey provide accurate information concerning the participation of the ICT sector with the seven sectors, which were covered by the survey.

 

One of the benefits of the survey is that it will allow TRA to measure the status of the UAE in terms of the 48 ICT "core indicators" that have been developed and agreed by international organizations including the ITU, OECD, world bank and UNCTAD.

 

From these 48 core indicators, the survey data included 33; meanwhile the TRA is conducting separate exercises to collect information for the remaining 15 indicators. The only missing indicators in the survey are the macroeconomic items, which were not available, at the time of conducting the survey, by the UAE sources.

 

The survey is divided into 9 chapters; the first seven chapters are dedicated for the chosen sectors, while the eighth chapter contains a benchmark and finally the ninth chapter explains the methodology that has been followed while conducting the survey.

 

The survey does not only provide statistical information about the ICT sector's performance, it also offers a comprehensive benchmark with many countries from all over the globe, using the survey data combined with other information collected by the TRA from the industry in the UAE.

 

This benchmarking aims to measure the development achieved in the UAE ICT compared with other countries, TRA chose number of regions across the world for analysis. The selected regions were the Arab states, Europe, North America and Asia.

 

Using 10 common ICT indicators in the benchmarking the UAE came first among the Arab countries, while it compares positively on an international scale, some progress is still needed to be equivalent with the leading ICT countries. The UAE ranks first among all the benchmarked countries in mobile subscribers per 100 inhabitants, the proportion between households with mobile telephony. The UAE also performs well in the percentage of homes with internet and percentage of with personal computer.

 

The result of the benchmark reflected the progress achieved in the ICT infrastructure and growth in the UAE, as well as the potentials of this sector, the UAE will be able to reach comparable levels with those achieved by the currently top ranking countries.