Dec 25, 2007
UAE and Bahrain top Arab world in internet and cellphone access
Gulfnews: UAE and Bahrain top Arab world in internet and cellphone access: “The UAE tops the Arab world in the number of internet users per every thousand users, but is placed second behind Bahrain in the use of cellular phones, according to a 2005 statistics.
It is also second behind Lebanon in the use of fixed-line telephones, the figures showed.
The Human Development Report 2007-2008, issued by the United Nations Development Programme (undp) says that the UAE tops the Arab countries in the area of web access, with 308 users per every 1000 persons.
Kuwait ranks second with 276 for every 1000 persons, followed by Qatar with 269 and Bahrain with 213. Lebanon is placed in the fifth position with 196 users for every 1,000 persons.
Oman comes eighth with 111 users and Saudi Arabia is ranked 11th, with 70 users for every 1,000 persons.
On the use of cellular phones, Bahrain tops the Arab world with 1,030 subscribers per every 1,000 persons, the UAE follows at second position with 1,000 subscribers, Kuwait at third position with 939 subscribers, followed by Qatar with 882 subscribers. Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Oman trail the list with 575, 566 and 519 respectively.
With regard to standard fixed-line telephones, Lebanon tops the Arab world with 277 telephones per 1000 persons.
The UAE follows with 273 telephones, followed by Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia with 270, 253 201 and 164 respectively, while Oman is placed 12th, with 103 telephone lines per 1,000 persons.
In view of the above figures, the report shows that members of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) occupied almost all the leading positions in the Arab world in the use of modern means of telecommunication.”