Focus on MENA

SCENARIOS

Exciting developments are underway in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region where fibre is being driven national broadband plans and mobile uptake.

Jan Schindler

BOARD MEMBER FTTH COUNCIL MENA

In September 2016, the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region had over 29,2 million fixed broadband subscribers and 162 million Mobile broadband subscribers, according to research from IDATE. FTTH/B subscribers represented around 9% of total fixed broadband subscribers. Fixed Broadband is growing rapidly in some countries and many countries, including Qatar, Oman, Lebanon and Kuwait are rolling out fibre in line with national broadband plans. Speeds as high as 1Gb/s are available in UAE and Bahrain. The most widespread speed 100 Mb/s, available in Oman, Qatar, Jordan, UAE, KSA and Tunisia.

 

Nearly 45% of Homes passed by Fibre had subscribed in the third quarter if 2016, and increase of 6% over the previous year. 9.2% of the fixed broadband subscribers were using fibre, 2% more than the previous year. According to IDATE, the number of FTTH/B subscribers will increase 15%, reaching reach 2.9 Million subscribers by the end of the year.

 

For many users across the region, mobile broadband is the technology of choice. 5G deployment agreements have been observed in countries such as Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE. A major opportunity for FTTH, which can support base station interconnection and accommodate higher bandwidth demand. Ambitious Smart City projects across the region will also act as a strong driver for fibre rollout. The EMC Digital Universe study predicts a 600% increase in data usage for MENA reaching 1,835 Exabyte’s by 2020 (1 Exabyte = 1018).

 

 

Driving fibre in MENA

 

Mobile Broadband is the preference of many end users in the MENA. Kuwait, for example, has an extremely high smartphone penetration rate and is reaching the limits of 4G. Operators in the Gulf region were amongst the earliest to deploy LTE and aim to maintain their leadership with 5G technologies. The rapid uptake of LTE deployments across the region is paving the way for 5G, with 20 million 5G subscriptions expected by 2022. UAE is expected to lead 4G/5G take-up rates over the next five years.

 

Smart cities and smart technology adoption are a significant driver for the fast uptake of 5G and the ambitions of Middle Eastern countries such as Dubai in this area are sure to accelerate this. Etisalat (UAE) completed the Mena region’s first 5G mobile technology live trial during Gitex 2016 reaching a peak speed of 36 Gb/s. The company plans to invest over Dh3 billion ($817mln) to develop infrastructure and expand mobile and fibre optic networks across UAE and launch5G service by the time of the Dubai Expo 2020. Ooredoo and Vodafone in Qatar are planning a 5G launch ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2020.

 

 

Stimulating investment

 

“In the MENA region, we aren’t currently seeing any regulatory barriers to FTTH deployment, which is mainly due to the different processes and national rules in each country,” explains Christine Beylouni, Director General of FTTH Council Middle East and North Africa. “At this stage, investment initiatives are more of concern. Governments are encouraging private sector fibre investments and paving the way by creating national broadband networks policies to facilitate national fibre broadband deployment. FTTH Council MENA tracks the progress of the NBN through the publication of its annual NBN policies studies.  From my side, I would recommend encouragement of infrastructure investments, rather than imposing hard regulations. I’d prefer the right model for regulation is applied, to protect the investment and ensure efficient ROI.”

 

In general, the cost of subscriptions is fairly high compared with other regions and ADSL access technology is still leading. Incumbents are leading the markets, although the growing involvement of alternative players could enhance rollouts.

MENA: COMPARISON WITH OTHER REGIONS

“Europe is also continuing its momentum,” explains Jan Schindler, Board Member FTTH Council MENA. “The number of fibre to the home (FTTH) and fibre to the building (FTTB) subscribers in Europe increased by 23% over the first nine months of 2016, reaching nearly 44.3 million FTTH/B subscribers. Also, homes passed increased by 17%, reaching more than 148 million in EU391 at the same time frame. The key difference is the fact that incumbents play an important role in many European countries, accounting for 43% of homes passed in EU39 (see box) at end-September 2016, compared to 21% at end 2011.”

 

“30 million homes throughout North America are now passed with FTTH, showing a 16% growth rate in 2016. Moreover, 13.7 million homes are connected to these lightning fast networks. The rapid growth of North American fibre networks is fuelled by a combination of Tier 1 providers and many smaller fibre providers who play an increasingly significant role in fibre deployment. The U.S. alone has over 1,000 providers investing heavily in fibre’s future.  Factors that will drive the continuing build-out include strong demand for higher-speed broadband services and services that drive this demand, especially UHD streaming; a strengthening commitment to FTTH among ex-incumbent Telco’s; strong competition from other builders as well as cable MSOs upgrading their networks.”

EU 39: Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and UK.

© Copyright Prysmian Group.

All rights reserved.

In September 2016, the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region had over 29,2 million fixed broadband subscribers and 162 million Mobile broadband subscribers, according to research from IDATE. FTTH/B subscribers represented around 9% of total fixed broadband subscribers. Fixed Broadband is growing rapidly in some countries and many countries, including Qatar, Oman, Lebanon and Kuwait are rolling out fibre in line with national broadband plans. Speeds as high as 1Gb/s are available in UAE and Bahrain. The most widespread speed 100 Mb/s, available in Oman, Qatar, Jordan, UAE, KSA and Tunisia.

 

Nearly 45% of Homes passed by Fibre had subscribed in the third quarter if 2016, and increase of 6% over the previous year. 9.2% of the fixed broadband subscribers were using fibre, 2% more than the previous year. According to IDATE, the number of FTTH/B subscribers will increase 15%, reaching reach 2.9 Million subscribers by the end of the year.

 

For many users across the region, mobile broadband is the technology of choice. 5G deployment agreements have been observed in countries such as Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE. A major opportunity for FTTH, which can support base station interconnection and accommodate higher bandwidth demand. Ambitious Smart City projects across the region will also act as a strong driver for fibre rollout. The EMC Digital Universe study predicts a 600% increase in data usage for MENA reaching 1,835 Exabyte’s by 2020 (1 Exabyte = 1018).

 

 

Driving fibre in MENA

 

Mobile Broadband is the preference of many end users in the MENA. Kuwait, for example, has an extremely high smartphone penetration rate and is reaching the limits of 4G. Operators in the Gulf region were amongst the earliest to deploy LTE and aim to maintain their leadership with 5G technologies. The rapid uptake of LTE deployments across the region is paving the way for 5G, with 20 million 5G subscriptions expected by 2022. UAE is expected to lead 4G/5G take-up rates over the next five years.

 

Smart cities and smart technology adoption are a significant driver for the fast uptake of 5G and the ambitions of Middle Eastern countries such as Dubai in this area are sure to accelerate this. Etisalat (UAE) completed the Mena region’s first 5G mobile technology live trial during Gitex 2016 reaching a peak speed of 36 Gb/s. The company plans to invest over Dh3 billion ($817mln) to develop infrastructure and expand mobile and fibre optic networks across UAE and launch5G service by the time of the Dubai Expo 2020. Ooredoo and Vodafone in Qatar are planning a 5G launch ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2020.

 

 

Stimulating investment

 

“In the MENA region, we aren’t currently seeing any regulatory barriers to FTTH deployment, which is mainly due to the different processes and national rules in each country,” explains Christine Beylouni, Director General of FTTH Council Middle East and North Africa. “At this stage, investment initiatives are more of concern. Governments are encouraging private sector fibre investments and paving the way by creating national broadband networks policies to facilitate national fibre broadband deployment. FTTH Council MENA tracks the progress of the NBN through the publication of its annual NBN policies studies.  From my side, I would recommend encouragement of infrastructure investments, rather than imposing hard regulations. I’d prefer the right model for regulation is applied, to protect the investment and ensure efficient ROI.”

 

© Copyright Prysmian Group.

All rights reserved.