"While absolute broadband penetration in the Arab World may seem low by industrial countries standards, the effective household broadband penetration is much higher. This is related to higher number of people per household as well as line sharing," said Jawad J. Abbassi, founder and general manager of Arab Advisors Group.
The region's telecommunications and broadcast entertainment markets continue to experience strong growth in subscribers and poised to face more competition as operators seek expansion.
He said the boom will re-define the traditional boundaries that separated media and telecom companies and enable convergent services as operators chase revenues in non-traditional areas.
"While ADSL sharing is illegal in many countries and does negatively affect quality, we believe the practice is widespread in the Arab World. The silver lining is that more households are connected to broadband internet services which would positively affect adoption of internet-based services such as e-commerce, multimedia, user generated content and e-government services," Abbassi said.
The fifth annual Media and Telecommunications Convergence Conference 2008 will take place in Amman on June 2-3. About 16 global and regional companies will participate.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Naushad K. Cherrayil
Quelle/Source: GulfNews, 16.05.2008
