UAE broadband is among costliest in Arab World

The UAE has the fourth most expensive ADSL rates in 19 Arab countries, a new report shows.

Iraq and Lebanon have the highest ADSL fees, while Morocco and Egypt have the lowest fees, according to an analysis of ADSL rates in 19 Arab countries by the Arab Advisors Group.

Rates are lowest in Morocco followed by Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, Yemen, Palestine, Kuwait, Oman, Mauritania, Syria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Bahrain, the UAE, Sudan and Lebanon while Iraq offers the highest rate.

“It is noteworthy that Morocco’s total annual cost for 1024 Kbps speed is lower than Egypt’s 512 Kbps annual cost. Accordingly, Morocco has the lowest ADSL rates for the common speeds this report tackled although the 512 kbps speed is not offered in Morocco,” Alaa Numair, Research Analyst at Arab Advisors stated in the report.

When rates are analysed in relation to GDP per capita in each country, however, the GCC countries and Morocco lead the pack, research highlighted.

“The countries that led ADSL Affordability Measure (AAM) were the GCC countries. Although they do not have the lowest rates, but they do have the highest GDP per capita, this is one reason why operators there do not reduce rates drastically as demand is guaranteed even at relatively higher rates,” Zeena Al Borgan, Arab Advisors’ Senior Research Analyst added.

When including the GDP per capita in the analysis, Arab Advisors concluded with the ADSL Affordability Measure (AAM). Basically, the total annual cost of ADSL in a country was calculated as a percentage of that country’s GDP per capita, whereby the higher the ratio the less affordable the service is in that country.

ADSL, or Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, remains the prevailing Internet broadband technology in the Arab World. Uptake is strong in most countries especially as ISPs launch promotions and reduce their rates.

Arab Advisors’ analysis revealed that the 1024 Kbps speed is the most common speed offered in the Arab region. The average total annual cost for the 1024 Kbps residential ADSL service in the Arab region stands at $736.4 per year.

Libya does not have the 1024 Kbps ADSL speed; however, Arab Advisors’ ranking for the country is based on extrapolating from its rates of other speeds. The research also revealed that ISPs tend to waive ADSL connection fees as part of their ongoing promotions.

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