Competition driving down tariffs in healthy UAE market

Details: James Barton; Category: Trends & Forecasts; 15 December 2011; 8511 views

One of the last countries in the Middle East to liberalise, the telecom market of the United Arab Emirates has benefited from competition, evident from falling tariff prices...

One of the last countries in the Middle East to liberalise, the telecom market of the United Arab Emirates has benefited from competition, evident from falling tariff prices. The recent launch of operations by a third market entrant will drive competition further and deliver benefits for the end user in 2012, according to Research & Markets.

Broadband services are well developed, with high penetration rates for the region. Development of the incumbent's fixed network is focused on extending fibre into the last mile, as part of plans to extend FttX networks to the entire country. International Internet connectivity is set to improve given the UAE's involvement in two separate major terrestrial cable networks spanning the Middle East.

Widely accessible Internet access has fostered development of the digital economy, encompassing e-commerce, e-government, e-health and e-learning. The UAE has also taken the initiative in implementing smart cities infrastructure, deploying smart grid technology and launching an ambitious plan to develop Masdar City, a new zero-carbon, zero-waste city powered entirely by renewable energy sources.

Mobile penetration levels in the UAE are among the world's highest, largely due to a very large and fluid expatriate population. Competition has led the incumbent to increase its focus on the underdeveloped mobile broadband and applications market. It has already commercially launched LTE services as well as cutting edge mobile applications services such as Near Field Communication (NFC)-based contact payment services.