Mobile broadband to drive future connections

Mobile broadband networks will support more than two-thirds of all mobile connections across the Arab States of the Middle East and North Africa by 2020, according to a new GSMA study.

The report ‘The Mobile Economy – Arab States 2015’ states that there will be 350 million 3G/4G mobile broadband connections in the Arab States by 2020, accounting for 69 per cent of the region’s total connections by 2020, up from just 34pc at the end of 2014.

The number of smartphones connections in the region is forecast to almost triple between 2014 and 2020, reaching 327 million.

 “The mobile landscape in the Arab States varies considerably in terms of market maturity, ranging from the fast-developing North African markets to the highly advanced Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, but the entire region is benefiting from the shift to mobile broadband networks and devices triggered by rising mobile operator investment,” said Alex Sinclair, Acting Director General and Chief Technology Officer at the GSMA.   

The number of unique mobile subscribers in the Arab States will reach 233 million by 2020, representing 57pc of the expected population by this point, according to the report. However, subscriber growth will be slower than the global average over this period and subscriber penetration will fall behind the 59pc global figure expected by 2020.

The declining growth potential in already highly penetrated markets; the challenge of growing penetration in the lower income and rural-based groups in less developed markets; and the unstable political and economic conditions that currently exist in several regional markets are pointed out as the reasons for the projected slower-than-global growth.