If you think you're paying too much for phone calls and internet access, it may be worth checking out a report released yesterday. It gives a perspective and context on the cost of telecom services across the Arab world, when compared to average OECD prices.
The bottom line is basically what you would expect - people in the Middle East are paying a lot for internet access and way too much for international calls, while the relative cost of mobile services is decreasing.
Some thoughts on all of this, after the jump:
This is all in line with the competitive environment - most countries
in the region have increasingly competitive mobile markets, not many
have truly competitive internet markets, and almost none have
competition in the international gateway - a big factor in
international calling and internet access.
Anyhow, I'll look into all this more today, so watch this space. In the meantime, you can check out a copy of the full report here.
It is good to see these kind of independent benchmarking reports
getting released by the region's regulators - this one was commissioned by AREGNET, the association of Arab telecom regulators. My only quibble is
with their method for gauging the cost of services - they translate
prices into US dollars, and then divide the result by purchasing power
(PPP) in each country.
While that may be somewhat fair, accomodating for different costs and
disposable incomes to make a general measure of affordability, it skews
the results in favour of small, ultra wealthy Gulf states like Qatar
and the UAE.
Both have crazily high average incomes - skewed massively
by the top end of the economic pyramid - which means even though
internet access in the UAE can cost almost $200 per month, the report
says it is more affordable here than in Egypt, where it costs less than
$50.
It's basically a philosophical question of whether the cost of a mobile
call or internet account should scale according to local incomes. It
should, but probably more at the bottom than the top - if people are
earning $2 a day, then it makes sense that they should expect mobile
calls at one cent per minute. But Bill Gates shouldn't be paying $5000
per minute, no matter how awful Windows Mobile is.