DOHA: The rate of cellular subscribers in Qatar grew strongly by 4.5 percent to 3.56m in the second quarter of 2013. Despite the high penetration rate of around 170 percent, there is huge potential for a future growth in view of the country’s projected economic and population growth.
The Global Investment House’s (GIH) 2013 second quarter analysis of the GCC Telecom sector yesterday noted: “Ooredoo extended the growth momentum to 2Q13 by adding 89,700 subscribers, after it launched 4G services on April 16, 2013. Vodfaone subscription base also kept its growth momentum due to increase in both post-paid and pre-paid segment on the back of 11 percent growth in population.”
The GIH analysts noted that the erosion in Ooredoo’s market share has slowed down significantly during the period. Ooredoo market share declined slightly to 67.8 percent in 2Q2013 compared to 68.2 percent in 1Q13.
“Qatar’s Ooredoo won one of the two licenses offer in Myanmar. Myanmar offers a good opportunity as it opens up to the world. Mobile penetration is extremely low at around 9 percent due to high cost of SIMS (in Myanmar)”, GIH Head of Research Faisal Hasan and senior Analyst Umar Faruqui said.
The GIH research note revealed UAE’s Etisalat is in exclusive talks with Vivendi after Ooredoo pulled out of the race citing “lengthy” process.
Vivendi, a French company, is seeking to sell its 53 percent stake in Maroc Telecom to focus on its operations.
UAE’s subscriber base carried on with the strong growth momentum increasing by 4.3 percent in 2Q2013.
Subscriber base increased by 3.9 percent Quarter-on-Quarter and 4 percent Quarter-on-Quarter in 1Q2013 and 4Q2012 respectively.
Kuwait’s GSM sector indicators show, its subscriber base growth came to a halt in 2Q13 after increasing steadily over the past four quarters.
With a penetration rate of 189 percent, the growth is likely to mirror population growth, going forward.
Zain subscriber growth was flat in 2Q2013 after adding 148,000 subscribers in 1Q2013. Strong 1Q was apparently due to subscribers’ take-up of 4G. Wataniya Telecom subscribers declined for the second consecutive quarter. The launch of MNP is likely to aggravate the situation for Wataniya.
The report noted Saudi cellular subscriber base declined by 1.7 percent Quarter-on-Quarter to 52.1m in 1Q2013. The subscriber base was affected by regulation on s ale and activation of pre-paid SIM cards.
Bahrain’s subscriber base expanded substantially by 194,600 in 2Q13, which is surprising given the high penetration rate in Bahrain.
The subscriber growth has remained strong in the past three quarters. Launch of 4G services by Batelco in February 2013 has apparently fuelled the growth in subscriber base”.
The Peninsula
