Increasing Broadband Internet Penetration
In the OIC Member Countries
118
In addition to the high adoption of fixed broadband, mobile broadband penetration has
reached 33.4 million subscriptions (83.5% individual penetration) in 4Q2015. However,
penetration decreased to 26.6 million in the 2Q2016 due to a government-enforced
disconnection of unregistered accounts (see table 57).
Table 57: Saudi Arabia: Mobile broadband subscriptions (2010-2016)
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2Q2016 Subscriptions 7,000,000 11,337,154 15,964,221 24,530,358 29,085,904 33,387,589 26,620,000Percent
Population 9.7 39.6 42.1 47.6 94.5 105.9 83.50
Sources: GSMA Intelligence; CITC; Telecom Advisory Services analysisUntil 2015 the key drivers of mobile broadband growth have been strong competition,
significant expansion in smartphone adoption, as well as the offering of a multiplicity of data
plans targeted for different market segments.
When comparing fixed and mobile broadband adoption, Saudi Arabia is one of the most
advanced among the OIC Member Countries (see figure 33).
Figure 33: OIC Member Countries: Fixed broadband versus mobile broadband penetration
(2015)
Sources: International Telecommunications Union; Telecom Advisory Services analysisFigure 33 plots OIC Member Countries in terms of their fixed and mobile broadband
penetration. The countries in group (A) have achieved high adoption in both technologies
indicating cumulative impact: fixed broadband used for home use and mobile broadband
enabling on-the-move access. The countries in this group include, in addition to Saudi Arabia,
Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Jordan, Iran,
Malaysia, Albania, Algeria, Maldives and Suriname. On the other hand, the countries in group
(B) exhibit an acute substitution process, whereby mobile broadband is assuming the role of
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
140%
160%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120% 140% 160%
Saudi Arabia
Fixed Broadband (lines per household)
Mobile Broadband
(subscriptions per population)
B A
D
C