Arab Ict Use Report - 2012
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2012 ARAB ICT USE AND SOCIAL NETWORKS ADOPTION REPORT Arab ICT Use Index Country ICT Profile Regional Analysis Market Size & Share Arab Social Networks Adoption Arabic Digital Content Service Providers & Telecom Players SPONSORED BY: admin Binzayed Group 1/1/2012 ARAB ICT USE REPORT - 2012 C O N T A C T I NFORMATION A B D U L K A D E R K AMLI Madar Research & Development CEO and Research Director Dubai, United Arab Emirates Email: [email protected] Dubai Internet City Building 9, Office G13 Tel: +97144214396 PO Box: 500441 Madar Research & Development (MRD) is a Dubai Internet City organization established in June 2012 as a knowledge-creating company with two main departments: ICT market research and research- based software development. Madar Research & Development is a successor of Madar Research (ICT market research company), which had operated in Dubai Media City from 2002 until 2010. DISCLAIMER All analyses, conclusions and recommendations provided in this research report are based on information and data gathered through primary research (telephone, e-mail, or face-to-face interviews) and desk research (mainly from official news websites and published reports). Madar Research & Development cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracy in the information and data thus gathered which might have affected the analyses and conclusions in this report. Accordingly, MRD is not responsible and cannot be held liable under any circumstances for any damage or loss – financial or otherwise – that may incur as a result of pursuing the recommendations and acting according to the findings of this report. Copyright© 2012-2013 MRD All rights reserved Sponsored by: KACST Produced by: MRD 2 ARAB ICT USE REPORT - 2012 T A B L E O F C ONTENTS INTRODUCTION ......................................... 5 PART I: ARAB ICT USE ................................. 6 STATISTICAL IRREGULARITIES AND ITS IMPACT ON MEASURING THE INFORMATION SOCIETY .................................................................................................................................... 7 THE POPULATION FACTOR .................................................................................................8 THE TIME REFERENCE FACTOR ......................................................................................... 12 THE ILLITERACY FACTOR ................................................................................................... 13 THE UNSKILLED WORKER FACTOR .................................................................................. 15 THE DEFINITIONS FACTOR ................................................................................................ 16 FIGURE DISCREPANCIES .................................................................................................... 18 ICT USE INDICATORS ............................................................................................................. 20 THE ARAB ICT USE INDEX .................................................................................................. 21 MOBILE PHONE SUBSCRIPTIONS ..................................................................................... 24 FIXED LINE SUBSCRIPTIONS ............................................................................................. 28 MOBILE-TO-FIXED-LINE SUBSCRIBERS ............................................................................. 32 INTERNET USERS ............................................................................................................... 33 FIXED BROADBAND SUBSCRIBERS .................................................................................. 36 COMPUTER INSTALLED BASE ........................................................................................... 38 INTERNET-USER-TO-PC RATIO ......................................................................................... 40 INTERNATIONAL INTERNET BANDWIDTH ....................................................................... 41 ICT PENETRATION IN THE GCC ............................................................................................ 44 B AHRAIN ............................................................................................................................ 45 K UWAIT .............................................................................................................................. 47 O MAN ................................................................................................................................ 49 Q ATAR ................................................................................................................................ 52 S A U D I A RABIA .................................................................................................................. 54 U NITE D A R A B E MIRATES ................................................................................................. 57 ICT PENETRATION IN THE LEVANT ....................................................................................... 59 E GYPT ................................................................................................................................ 60 I RAQ .................................................................................................................................... 62 J ORDAN ............................................................................................................................. 64 L EBANON ........................................................................................................................... 66 P ALESTINE ......................................................................................................................... 69 S YRIA .................................................................................................................................. 71 ICT PENETRATION IN NORTH AFRICA .................................................................................. 73 A LGERIA ............................................................................................................................. 74 L IBYA .................................................................................................................................. 76 M OROCCO .......................................................................................................................... 78 T UNISIA ............................................................................................................................. 80 ICT PENETRATION IN SUDAN & YEMEN .............................................................................. 82 S UDAN ................................................................................................................................ 83 Y EMEN ................................................................................................................................ 85 PART II: ARAB SOCIAL NETWORKS ADOPTION ...... 87 FACEBOOK USAGE ................................................................................................................ 88 LINKEDIN USAGE ................................................................................................................... 93 TWITTER USAGE ................................................................................................................... 94 Sponsored by: KACST Produced by: MRD 3 ARAB ICT USE REPORT - 2012 YOUTUBE USAGE ................................................................................................................. 103 PART III: ARABIC DIGITAL CONTENT .............. 107 ARABIC ONLINE CONTENT .................................................................................................. 108 WIKIPEDIA USAGE AND ARABIC CONTENT ........................................................................ 110 BLOGS AND ARAB BLOGGERS ............................................................................................. 113 CITIZEN JOURNALISM .......................................................................................................... 125 APPENDICES ......................................... 128 Appendix 1: Internet Introduction and Commercial Use in Arab States ......................... 128 Appendix 2: Active mobile phone operators in the MENA Region ................................. 129 Appendix 3: Active Fixed line Operators in the MENA region .......................................... 131 Published in November 2012 Sponsored by: KACST Produced by: MRD 4 ARAB ICT USE REPORT - 2012 INTRODUCTION Despite the political turmoil that had swept up the region over the past two years, the Arab world continued to make significant progress in the adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) in 2011, taking big strides towards enhancing ICT infrastructure and performance. Saudi Arabia remarkably continued to dominate the region in the mobile phone sector, registering a penetration of 189.24%, ranking fourth globally ahead of most developed countries. All GCC countries achieved penetration rates over 125% in terms of mobile penetration. Although growth in the mobile sector in the Arab world has been witnessing a general steady decline over the past few years, driven mainly by saturated GCC markets, the natural population growth and the influx of expats will be the main factors impacting the future growth of mobile phone subscriptions in the GCC. Driven by the GCC's remarkable mobile penetration figures, mobile phone subscriptions in the Arab world nearly