The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with a total population of around 500 million, is witnessing a major growth in telecom penetration and broadband internet access in the past 5 years. From a low base of only 1.51 million broadband connections in the whole region in 2006, the number is estimated to have reached 17 million in 2011. This number is expected to double in the next 4 years and the World Bank and other institutions are actively encouraging the spread of broadband telecom as a major instrument for social advancement in the region.
The internet has become the principal medium for communication
The internet has become the principal medium of communication for people, not just at the workplace but also in their personal lives. It is the medium that people turn to for information, for day to day transactions like banking, travel and public services, for communication with friends and family and increasingly also for entertainment. Governments have also realized that providing public services through the internet is cost effective and insulates people from delays, frustration and low level corruption involved in face-to-face interaction with government agencies.
Access to internet has become a good surrogate indicator of the standard of living. In the US and the European Union, over 78 percent of the population has access to the internet. In China this has grown rapidly to reach 34 percent but in India it is still low at 7.5 percent. The MENA region presents a very diverse picture with the advanced trading nations like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain having internet access percentages similar to the advanced economies. The percentage falls off very quickly in the less developed countries of the region like Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Iran and internet usage is minuscule in Sudan and Yemen.
The internet, which was previously accessed only from desktop computers, is now being accessed from portable computers and mobile phones. The bandwidth requirements are increasing as the internet now delivers graphics, streaming videos, high fidelity music and gaming content. This is the driver for the worldwide growth of broadband connections at over 21 percent a year in the last 5 years to reach a total of 545 million connections in 2011.
The additional spur for growth in the MENA region
Over 33 percent of the population in the MENA region is under the age of 12. This young population is quicker to adopt new technology than their parents? generation. In much of this region, television and radio stations are state controlled and do not provide the standard of entertainment that is available through the internet.
The monopoly state run land-line telecom services are facing competition from the newly emerging mobile telecom players who are able to extend services far quicker than the ?dig and bury cable? process used for land-lines. These mobile phone companies induce new consumers to internet access by simple promotional activities such as the downloading of ring tones and wallpapers, access to on-line music and videos and connection to social networks like Facebook and Twitter. These customers become regular mobile internet users and quickly upgrade to higher bandwidth applications which helps the mobile phone companies realize better revenues. The present broadband usage costs in the region are amongst the highest in the world with an unlimited usage plan in Saudi Arabia or Bahrain costing as much as $140 a month. These are bound to come down very quickly to the international norm of around $20.
The Arab Spring movement in the region was fueled mainly through internet communication. The penetration of mobile broadband in the region could bring out other such changes.
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