Universal Access PREPARATORY MEETING OF THE ARAB REGION FOR THE WORLD TELECOMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE Alexandria (Egypt) 1719 October 2000
Universal access to communications is the main reason why we are all here
What is Universal Access? • Universal Service Telephone in most homes • Universal Access Telephone within reasonable distance for everyone
Universal Service LDCs Yemen
Households with a telephone (%), 1999
Maghreb Arab Region SyriaOmanJordan Lebanon KSA Gulf except KSA and Oman 0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
Measuring Universal Access Payphones as % of total fixed lines
• Total density • Towns with telephone service • Payphones
4%
– Per inhabitant – As % of main lines
3%
• Mobile coverage • Distance from a telephone • Time from a telephone
5%
Mauritania
2% 1%
0%
UAE – Morocco Tunisia OmanKSA SudanBahrain JordanDjiboutiQatar Algeria – Syria Egypt Kuwait
Network growth Fixed and mobile telephone subscribers per 100 inhabitants All developin g cou n t ries Ara b region
1 1 .4 9 .2
7 .7
8 .2
6 .4 5 .6 4 .8
5 .4
6 .1
7 .0
3.2 difference
0.8 difference 1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
New telephone subscribers added
180
World, millions
160
Fixed
140 120 100
Mobile
Since ’96 more mobiles added
Arab region, millions 2.5
Fixed
Mobile
2.0
1.5
80 1.0 60 40
0.5
20 0.0
0 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
More mobile countries: Cambodia (93); Finland (98); Uganda, Ivory Coast, Portugal, Venezuela, Paraguay, S. Korea, Italy, Austria, Israel, Botswana (99); Japan, Hongkong, Singapore, South Africa, Philippines, Ireland…(2000)
Morocco becomes the first Mobile subscribers in Morocco, 000s 2'500 2'000
Medi IAM Mobile Density
1'500
2.7%
1'000 500
Mobile passes fixed
3.1%
7.3% 6.4%
5.7% 3.9%
4.4%
1.5% 1.8%
0 Jan-00 Feb-00 Mar-00 Apr-00 May-00 Jun-00 Jul-00 Aug-00 Sep-00
High mobile coverage + pre-paid card = Universal Access?
Telephone density Fixed and mobile telephones per 100 inhabitants, 1999 UAE Bahrain Qatar Kuwait Lebanon KSA Oman ALL DEVELOPING Syria Tunisia Jordan ARAB REGION Egypt Morocco Algeria Yemen
Fixed Mobile
Sep 2000 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Digital divide in the Arab region 8%
17%
Internet users as % of population
7% 6% 5% 4%
All developing countries
3% 2% 1%
U
A
E LB N KW T BH Q R A O T M N S A U JO R T D U EV N 'N A G RA B EG M Y A R D JI LB Y S YR CO M M RT D Z A YE M S D N
0%
Financing access 10% 9% 8%
Te le phone subscr ipt ion a s % of GD P pe r ca pit a
7% 6% 5% 4% 3% 2% 1% 0% Gulf
Tunisia
KSA
Algeria
Arab
LDCs
Accounting rates $ 2. 5
Average accounting rate with US, per minute, US$
Ar a b r e gion $ 2. 0
Re st of w or ld
$ 1. 5 $ 1. 0 $ 0. 5 $ 0. 0 1995
1996
Source: FCC.
1997
1998
1999
2000
Telecom revenue Distribution of telecom revenue 1999
Arab region
World
N at ional
Mobile
N at ional
Mobile
24%
Telephone
27%
Telephone
25% Ot her 3%
54% Ot her 15%
I nt er nat ional Telephone 45%
I nt ernat ional T elephone 7%
US$ 13.1 billion 1999 1.6% of world total
Future work • Definition and measurement of universal access • Universal access / service policies • Universal access / service funding • Setting targets for region