The Arab Advisers Group's 2009 cellular competition intensity Index revealed on Wednesday that Iraq is the most competitive Arab cellular market. Jordan – which was the most competitive market in the 2007 and 2008 indexes- came in second. The Arab Advisors Group devised the Cellular Competition Intensity Index in order to rate and properly assess the intensity level of competition in the Arab World's cellular markets. The index takes into account the number of operators, packages, and services available in each of the 19 countries covered by the Arab Advisors Group in this report, with each category assigned a certain weight according to its importance as an indicator of competition. The categories include the following: Number of licensed and expected operators; number of working operators; market share of largest operator; number of current prepaid plans; number of current postpaid plans; availability of corporate offers; availability of 3G services and availability of operational ILD (International Long Distance) competition. A new report titled “Competition Levels in Arab Cellular Markets” ranked the Arab world countries according to their cellular competition intensity level, based on a methodological approach. The Cellular Competition Intensity Index results for 2009 revealed that Iraq tops the score -as the most competitive Arab market- with a 91.0% mark followed by Jordan (82.7%), Saudi Arabia (79.2%), Palestine (78.6%), Egypt (69.8%), Morocco (67.7%), Algeria (64.6%), Sudan (63.3%), Mauritania (61.3%), Yemen (57.6%), Bahrain (55.2%), Kuwait (54.4%), Tunisia (51.5%), UAE (50.2%), Oman (44.8%), Libya (35.7%), Syria (34.2%), Lebanon (33.6%), and finally Qatar (31.5%) “Iraq's performance was excellent in the cellular competition intensity index, ranking first with a score as high as 91.0% and dethroning Jordan. There are five working operators in the country, three of which operate a national mobile license, while the remaining two are regional operators operating in the Kurdistan region. While Iraq's largest operator (Zain) has a substantial market share of more than 50%, Iraq's score benefited from the availability of corporate offers, operational ILD competition and 3G service,” the report said. Andrawes Snobar, Arab Advisors' Research manager wrote the report.
