Revenues from the telecommunications sector in the UAE grew 12.32 per cent to Dh32.8 billion this year compared to Dh29.2 billion last year.
Major part of the revenue came from the mobile services at Dh25.5 billion, followed by internet services at Dh4.6 billion and fixed telephony services at Dh2.7 billion.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of the UAE, which published its sixth Annual Sector Review, said that the UAE had over 2.1 million fixed line subscriptions, 16.82 million mobile subscriptions and one million internet subscriptions.
The number of active mobile subscriptions continued to grow, reaching over 16.8 million by the end of the year with a penetration rate of 199.3 per cent. This represents one of the highest mobile penetration rates in the world.
Revenues generated from the mobile services increased by 14.9 per cent in 2014. The majority of this revenue increase came from prepaid services which increased 16.9 per cent from the previous year.
The number of active mobile subscriptions rose by 4.6 per cent in 2014 compared to the previous year.
There has also a marked trend of customers subscribing to higher speed internet services over time. For example, in 2011 over a third of residential customers subscribed to internet speed of 512 kbps but by the end of 2014, that figure had fallen to only eight per cent.
According to World Economic Forum’s 2015 Networked Readiness Index (NRI), UAE is ranked first in the Arab states and 23rd among all 143 countries assessed, moving up by one position from 24th in the previous ranking of 2014.
“The many positive trends illustrated within the review are a testament to the strategic vision and operational expertise of etisalat and du, and also to the continued oversight of the sector by the TRA,” Majed Sultan Al Mesmar, Deputy Director General for Telecommunication Sector, said in a statement.
He said that subscribers are taking advantage of the high speed and advanced networks that the operators have invested heavily in over the past years and it shows in the performance of the internet services segment.
The report said that on average, 9.1 thousand subscribers per month have switched between the two mobile operators using Mobile Number Portability (MNP).
During 2014, the number of fixed lines increased by 17,000 from the previous year, and calls to mobile phones represents the largest proportion of fixed line call minutes.
In 2014, postpaid subscriptions accounted for 15 per cent of total mobile subscriptions.
“Calls to Pakistan, India and Bangladesh represented 77 per cent of total outgoing international traffic in 2014. The most population destination of outgoing international calls was Pakistan, with over 2.4 billion minutes, followed by India with 2.1 billion minutes and Bangladesh with 1.2 billion minutes,” the report said.
The percentage of internet subscribers using fibre technology rose by 14.7 per cent in 2014. As at 2014, 88 per cent of internet subscribers were connected using fibre technologies. 46 per cent of internet subscriptions involve triple play package.
