Mobile Tariffs in Arab Countries

Average mobile tariffs in Arab countries are up to 100% higher than the average in Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, a benchmarking study by Bahrain’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority revealed.

Broadly, “prices in Arab countries have gone down, most with Broadband services. But since prices have gone down in other parts of the world as well the gap between prices in Arab countries and prices in OECD / European countries remains,” the study undertaken by Teligen, an independent consulting firm specialised in tariff comparison, said.

The study compared prices for fixed voice, mobile, leased lines and broadband services within and between 22 Arab countries, as well as with the 30 OECD countries. At the regional level, the study revealed that tariffs for fixed telephony services tend to be more expensive in the region than in OECD countries, though some countries are well below OECD averages.
“Results show that there is a wide spread of rates across the region. Rates are not rebalanced with relatively high usage cost, especially international calls, relative to fixed cost. “International calls out of the Arab countries are 4-5 times as expensive as the OECD countries on average, and even the cheapest Arab country is 11 times more expensive than the ‘best in class’ OECD country. However, this is an improvement from previous year,” the report said.- TripoliPost