New technology and data services to lead next phase of Middle East market growth

Informa Telecoms & Media says the Middle East telecoms market will continue to grow and forecasts the number of mobile subscriptions will reach over 350 million by 2014.  This next phase of growth will be driven by a shift to more advanced technologies and a stronger demand for data services with much of the growth to come from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

"The Middle East's telecoms market is one of the most exciting in the world, as it is continues to offer good growth opportunities and is also seeing the deployment of some of the most advanced technologies," says Matthew Reed, Senior Analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. "As a result of the move to broadband, revenues from data services in the Middle East will grow more strongly than voice revenues over the coming few years, driven by strong demand for data and the availability of new data services, as well as smartphones and netbooks."

Over the coming few years, there will be a strong shift among Middle East mobile users from 2G technology to the more advanced 3G, according to forecasts by Informa Telecoms & Media.  By 2014 3.5G+ will be the biggest technology segment with a market-share of 41.34% while 3G will have a market-share of 18.72%, 2.5G will have 9.13% and 2G will have 30.81%. BlackBerry devices are already widely available and used in the region and the most recent model of the iPhone supports Arabic text for the first time, which should encourage take-up of the handset.

"This will have a major impact on data revenues in the region, which according to forecasts will almost double between 2009 and 2014, rising from US$6.88 billion in 2009 to US$13.82 billion in 2014," concludes Reed.

For more information, please contact:

Denise Duffy

PR Manager, Informa Telecoms & Media

Mob:  +44 (0) 7500 330826 

Email: denise.duffy@informa.com

Twitter: @informatm_pr

About Informa Telecoms & Media

Informa Telecoms & Media (www.informatm.com) is the leading provider of business intelligence and strategic services to the global telecoms and media markets.

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Informa Telecoms & Media (ITM) conducts primary and secondary research on the latest trends impacting the mobile communications, fixed communications and TV sectors, on a global basis. ITM's market intelligence services  -World Cellular Information Service (WCIS), World Broadband Information Service (WBIS) and the Intelligence Centre - give clients access to market forecasts and key performance indicators (KPIs), as well as detailed analysis and exploration of trends.  These comprehensive and reliable data sources combined with access to a team of dedicated analysts provide clients with essential business tools to assist in their strategic and tactical decision making processes.

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