Middle East operators seen leading global 5G roll-out

18th January 2019

By: Natasha Odendaal

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

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Pioneering mobile operators in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Arab States are expected to be the global leaders in the deployment of fifth-generation (5G) networks, driving innovative services across the region and spurring future growth.

All six markets, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are expected to launch commercial 5G mobile services in the next two years, reports from the GSMA suggest.

By 2025, 5G will account for 16% of total connections in these markets.

“Backed by proactive government support, mobile operators, particularly in the GCC States, have been quick to establish the foundations for global leadership in the deployment of 5G technology, moving rapidly from trials to early commercialisation,” says GSMA chief regulatory officer John Giusti.

However, the reports, ‘The Mobile Economy: Middle East and North Africa (Mena) 2018’ and ‘5G in Mena: GCC operators set for global leadership’, highlight the importance of a flourishing regulatory environment.

The reports encourage policymakers to establish spectrum roadmaps for the release of sufficient quantities of spectrum across all frequency ranges to enable operators to meet coverage and capacity, as well as the implementation of tax policies that could improve affordability and boost digital inclusion.

The region boasts rapid subscriber growth and increasing smartphone adoption.

In the second quarter of 2018, there were 381-million unique mobile subscribers across the Mena region, accounting for 64% of the population.

“It is a diverse region in terms of market maturity, encompassing the advanced GCC States, where 77% of the population on average are mobile subscribers, alongside other North African countries, such as Comoros, Djibouti and Somalia, where subscriber penetration is below 30%,” Giusti notes.

Between 2017 and 2025, the entire Mena region is likely to experience the fastest subscriber growth rate of any region, except sub- Saharan Africa, growing to reach 459-million or 69% of the population.

In 2017, the mobile industry contributed about $165-billion to the Mena region’s economy, equivalent to 4% of gross domestic product, which is expected to increase to over $200-billion by 2022.

The mobile industry made a significant contribution to the funding of the public sector, with more than $17-billion raised in 2017 in the form of general tax.

“The mobile ecosystem also supported more than one-million jobs in 2017, which includes workers directly employed in the ecosystem and jobs indirectly supported by the economic activity generated by the sector,” he concludes.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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