Increasing partnerships and investments coupled with the launch of news strategies and innovations are boosting the telecom sector in the Gulf region.
At the TMT Finance and Middle East 2009 Conference, industry leaders state that the telecom sector in the Gulf has continued to be robust and more importantly, it has evolved as an emerging market despite the ongoing global economic slowdown, as reported by ThePeninsula.
According to the projections, Arabian Gulf nations will spend nearly US$4.5 Billion on IT and communication hardware for the under-construction civil projects during 2009-2011. The growth in telecom sector during the recession period is primarily accredited to the introduction of new strategies and innovations and lesser dependence on financial sector, with the focus shifting more towards management from profits.
In an attempt to display that they are more resilient than other sectors, companies are constantly making several partnerships, investments and expansions in the region. “This trend is largely buoyed by the fact that there remains a plethora of opportunities in the Middle Eastern countries in the field of IT and telecommunication”, says an analyst at RNCOS. “Penetration of internet and broadband remains low as compared to other regions such as Asia or Europe, which is certainly due to lack of sufficient investments into the sector in past”, added the analyst.
In order to better understand the current and future prospects of ICT industry in the Middle East, RNCOS has done thorough analysis of ICT industry across various Middle East countries, including Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, UAE, Jordan, Iran, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain.
Various countries such as UAE and Egypt have been working on ICT infrastructure development projects in order to attract foreign IT and telecom investment. UAE, for instance, is all set to become the ICT hub in the Middle East region, bolstering advantages of its free trade zones and the Dubai Internet City, says the analyst. In terms of future growth of the IT industry in the Middle Eastern countries, Qatar is on the top, followed by Kuwait and Turkey. However, in terms of value, Turkey is number one followed by Israel. Owing to the development of new markets for digital applications and content, the number of broadband connections, is rising across the region.
With the growth in ICT industry, opportunities emerge in the field of 3G, WiMAX, IT outsourcing and so on. It serves as a big opportunity for the Middle East telecom operators to establish strategic partnerships and carry out their business activities in the region. This will also bring a shift in the current model of value-added services.
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