SMS has taken hold in the Lebanese market. As Lebanon’s telecoms market may well be on the way to liberalisation, Arab Advisory Group figures show that only 10% of GSM users do not use SMS...

Spending by Saudi Arabian Internet users reached over US$3.2 billion last year...

Reliance Communications’ Fibre-optic Link Around the Globe subsidiary is set to achieve its ambition of becoming the world’s largest IP network over submarine cabling. FLAG has awarded Fujitsu the contract which will double FLAG’s size and build four new cable systems across the Mediterranean, East Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

Encouraging developments within the Gulf have formed the basis of several reports on Developing Telecoms but there must come a time when these Gulf markets enjoy total or almost total teledensity. Daniel Jones, Research Analyst with Analysis, believes that acquiring operators who are active outside the Gulf may present a convincing alternative route for Gulf operators...

Real mobile market penetration rates may be less than two thirds conventional figures. This claim is made by the Arab Advisors Group following a recent survey in Jordan...

The Middle Eastern mobile market presents greater revenue opportunities than markets in Europe when taking into account its size and spending power, according to a new report The Middle Eastern mobile market: trends and forecasts 2007-12, published by Analysys. Why? Read on...

Huawei has successfully deployed the largest High Speed Packet Access network in the Middle East and North Africa region for Etisalat in UAE...

The influential Arab Advisors Group has surveyed cellular users in Qatar . The survey, on the eve of Qatari liberalisation, shows that 34.9% of Qatar ?s GSM users have ADSL broadband Internet in their homes while 80.6% are aware of 3G cellular technology...

Qtel is leveraging its strong balance sheet resulting from its monopoly of telecommunications in its home market to expand regionally and globally...

United Arab Emirates is the most connected country in the Arab World according to the Arab Advisors Group's annually released Total Country Connectivity Measure (TCCM)...

Saudi Arabia has just awarded its third mobile licence, in this case to MTC. Here, we discuss the implications for MTC's business portfolio in the Middle East and Africa .

Jordan Telecom Group, a subsidiary of France Telecom, has acquired a majority stake in Lightspeed Communications, Bahrain 's first alternative fixed-line telecommunications operator...

A group led by Bahrain Telecommunications Co., Hong Kong's PCCW and U.S. Verizon Communications have won initial approval to operate Saudi Arabia's new fixed-line phone network, Saudi regulators have announced...

Siemens Networks has been commissioned by the Arabian mobile operator Qatar Telecom (Qtel) to operate its UMTS mobile network in the State of Qatar... 

Qatar's broadband boom is continuing apace. Broadband accounts grew by 90% in 2006 and now make up two thirds of all Qatari accounts. In recent months authorisation has been given for the liberalisation of Qatar's markets. The Arab Advisors Group is weighing up the opportunities...

Saudi Arabia is on the verge of conducting her third mobile licensing procedure. This represents the last major opportunity for Gulf-oriented operators. Developing Telecoms summarises why analysts have come to this conclusion, and highlights some hotspots for growth.