The United Arab Emirates continues to be among the countries with the most impressive mobile penetration rates in the world. That was once again confirmed by the latest report of the country’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). Moreover, the UAE has reached new record numbers in terms of mobile subscription revenues and mobile users.
According to TRA’s “UAE Telecommunications Sector Developments & Indicators, 2010 – 2013” report, revenues from mobile services in the United Arab Emirates have increased by 6.3% in 2013. By the end of last year, they have reached the astonishing AED 22.3 billion. That is mainly thanks to the increasing mobile subscribers in the country. Currently, their amount is estimated at over 16 million. This means that the UAE saw a penetration rate of almost 193% in 2013. That easily places it among the countries with the highest mobile penetration on the globe.
Mobile subscription revenues were not the only factor that witnessed a rise last year. In its research, TRA also reveals that international outgoing international calls have also registered big 37-percent jump over the past twelve months. UAE users made the most international calls to Pakistan – nearly 2.2 billion minutes. That is almost 1.2 billion more than the second most popular destination for outgoing international calls – India. Egypt is third with 468 million minutes and the Philippines is fourth with 382 million minutes.
Although mobile subscriptions in UAE are booming, fixed line services continue to be used by people in the country. In 2013, fixed telephony services in the GCC country reached 2.8 million. As a result, the penetration rate of fixed line subscriptions has increased by 1%, hitting a total of 25%.
One of the few telecommunication services that saw a decline were MMS and SMS messages. For just one year, SMS messages decreased by 13%, whereas MMS dropped by 23%.
One possible explanation for that is the rise of internet service subscriptions. In 2013 alone, they registered a jump of around 10.5%. The use of fibre technology has also increased by 24% and surpassed a total of 80% after many users have migrated from copper networks to this more innovative option. In addition to that, more and more subscribers in the United Arab Emirates are switching to subscription plans offering them higher web speeds. For just four years, the percentage of people using fast-speed internet has jumped by almost 40%.
TRA’s report concludes that in 2013, the United Arab Emirates saw the biggest rise in the world on ICT (information and communications technology) development rankings.
