Jordan is the most competitive Arab cellular market, Saudi Arabia came in second and Palestine followed, the Arab Advisors Group said in its Cellular Competition Intensity Index 2010 report that would be released on the sidelines of the 7th annual Media and Telecoms Convergence Conference in Amman on June 7-8, 2010. The Cellular Competition Intensity Index results for June 2010 revealed that Jordan tops the score as the most competitive Arab market with an 80.7% mark, followed by Saudi Arabia (75.3%), Palestine (69.3%), Oman (67.1%), Egypt (65.7%), Morocco (64.9%), Iraq (63.4%), Tunisia (62.7%), Yemen (61.1%), Bahrain (59.9%), Algeria (59.5%), Sudan (59.4%), Mauritania (56.8%), Kuwait (49.8%), Qatar (46.4%), UAE (45.4%), Syria (38.0%), Libya (34.3%), and Lebanon (31.2%). The 2010 index results showed that eight countries ranked higher than their June 2009 index ranks, these are: Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Oman, Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain and Qatar. Meanwhile, a total of eight countries ranked lower compared to June 2009 index, namely: Iraq, Algeria, Sudan, Mauritania, Kuwait, UAE, Libya and Lebanon. The remaining three countries of Egypt, Morocco and Syria maintained their June 2009 ranks. The Arab Advisors Group had devised the Cellular Competition Intensity Index 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. Each category was assigned a certain weight according to its importance as an indicator of competition. The categories include the following: number of licensed and expected operators in 2010; number of working operators; market share of largest operator; number of prepaid plans; number of postpaid plans; availability of corporate offers; and availability of 3G services and the availability of ILD (International Long Distance) competition. A new report, “Competition Levels in Arab Cellular Markets” will be released to the Arab Advisors Group's Telecoms Strategic Research Service subscribers in June 20 “In addition to having four cellular operators, Jordan has intense competition in the ILD segment and has the highest number of prepaid plans amounting to twenty four plans. Moreover, Jordan was the second highest (after Morocco) in terms of the number of postpaid plans which amounted to thirty seven.” Faten Bader, Arab Advisors Group senior research analyst, said “Oman's cellular market received a score of 67.1% in the Cellular Competition Intensity Index. This pulled it up to the fourth rank compared to the fifteenth rank in June 2009. This was mainly due to the launch of MVNOs in Oman. By end of April 2010, the market hosted five operational MVNOs, in addition to the two mobile operators, Oman Mobile and Nawras. The overall score was boosted further due to scoring full marks in the availability of corporate offers, 3G services and ILD competition.” Zeena Al Borgan, Arab Advisors Group senior research analyst added.
