Research and Markets: Middle Eastern Digital Media, Broadband and Internet Market Report 2010

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/1df697/middle_eastern_dig) has announced the addition of the "Middle Eastern Digital Media, Broadband and Internet Market" report to their offering.

“Middle Eastern Digital Media, Broadband and Internet Market”

This Middle East market report covers the digital media, broadband and Internet markets in each of the following countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, UAE and Yemen.

The broadband market in the Middle East is starting to move:

Internet and broadband penetration rates remain low in many countries of the Middle East, access speeds are often relatively slow and tariffs are relatively high compared with other regions in the world but the region is making a strong push towards higher broadband penetration. The young population will be a driver for growth as they grow up with Internet use as the norm. In addition liberalisation and increased competition are producing a greater variety of services and mediums.

While broadband growth has taken off in the small, oil-rich and developed countries of the Gulf, wide income disparities across the Arab Middle East region as a whole are echoed by wide disparities in Internet and broadband penetration rates. Computer penetration levels are generally low. Qatar, Bahrain and UAE all have high household broadband penetration, particularly amongst nationals. The largest country in the region, Saudi Arabia, has low broadband penetration but it is rising quickly.

ADSL is the prevailing broadband Internet technology in the region. Only in Israel does cable have a significant market share. Services are provided by HOT Cable Systems Media, which is subject to the same broadband universal service obligations as is DSL network operator Bezeq. This has resulted in broadband being available to 99% of all households.

Much is being promised by WiMAX across the Middle East region. In Bahrain services from Zain Bahrain and Mena Telecom, both with country-wide networks, have rapidly gained over 30% market share. It is also having a significant impact in Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

All the GCC, Israeli and Turkish operators offer HSPA mobile broadband services. Saudi Arabia's second mobile operator, Mobily, has claimed a 70% share of the country's broadband market.

Fibre to the Home (FttH) is likely to revolutionise the broadband market in the most advanced countries. Both Israel and the UAE will have nationwide fibre networks in the next two years.

One of the reasons for slow Internet and broadband subscriber growth in Arab Middle East countries has been a lack of sufficient content in Arabic for users to need a high-speed broadband connection in their daily lives. There has been too much emphasis on hardware and the latest must-have gizmo and not enough on creativity. This is beginning to change with the increasing digital content produced by the flourishing Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite TV sector, including entertainment, educational programming, news and sports. At least 60-70% of homes across the Middle East have access to multi-channel TV, much of it free to air DTH satellite. Around 70% of the 400+ channels are privately owned.

A further impetus was gained from the sale of Jordan's Maktoob to Yahoo. This immediately prompted venture capital funds to take a greater interest in the sector. Advertising provides only a very small revenue for digital media companies. The UAE's advertisers allot a 3.5% share of their budgets to online advertising compared to a regional average of 1%.

Data in this report is the latest available at the time of preparation and may not be for the current year.

Countries Covered in this Report:

1. Bahrain

2. Iran

3. Iraq

4. Israel

5. Jordan

6. Kuwait

7. Lebanon

8. Oman

9. Qatar

10. Saudi Arabia