Increasing Broadband Internet Penetration
In the OIC Member Countries
75
impact on the speed at which broadband subscribers can access the Internet. According to the
table 25 the average fixed broadband download speed across the OIC Member Countries is 3.4
Mbps.
Table 25: OIC Member Countries and OECD: Average fixed broadband speed (in Mbps)
(2015)
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 OECD 3,680 3,978 4,125 4,231 5,230 6,126 8,656 9,974 11,669
Asian OIC 754 837 873 827 1,038 1,384 1,902 2,363 3,556
Arab OIC 1,005 1,008 1,232 1,299 1,291 1,529 1,766 2,267 3,149
African OIC N/D N/D N/D N/D N/D N/D N/D N/D N/D
Total OIC 822 884 972 958 1,108 1,425 1,864 2,336 3,442
Source: Akamai; Telecom Advisory Services analysisAs table 25 indicates, the average download speed has not improved significantly in the last
nine years, when it was 1.005 Mbps. In the meantime, the average download speed across
OECD countries has increased from 3.680 Mbps to 11.669 Mbps. As research has indicated,
broadband speed has a direct economic impact. In the emerging world, upgrading from 0.5 to 4
Mbps increases household income by US$ 46 per month (Bohlin, 2014). Similarly, doubling of
broadband speed increases GDP by 0.3%. These effects emphasize the need to accelerate
deployment of fast fixed broadband across the OIC Member Countries. This challenge will be
discussed further in chapter V.
The statistics for mobile broadband speeds point out to a similar lag by the OIC Member
Countries, although the deployment of 4G/LTE is expected to increase the share of faster
mobile broadband connectivity. As of the end of 2016, 41 OIC Member Countries have at least
one operator with an active LTE network. Of these, Kuwait, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates have begun to reflect a growing 4G share of the total mobile broadband
subscriptions (see table 26).
Table 26: OIC Member Countries: Breakdown of mobile broadband subscribers
Subscriptions
per 100 pop.
Total
Subscribers
(2015)
Share 3G (*) (%) Share 4G (*)(%) Year Launched
(first operator) Kuwait 139.31 4,992,033 81.30 (2015) 18.70 (2015) 2011
Bahrain 131.78 1,791,892 - - - - - - 2012
Saudi Arabia 111.67 33,387,589 94.84 (2015) 5.16 (2015) 2011
UAE 91.99 8,810,000 94.84 (2015) 5.16 (2015) 2011
Malaysia 89.94 27,567,668 94.40 (2015) 5.60 (2015) 2013
Qatar 80.03 1,881,144 98.00 (2015) 2.0 (2015) 2013
Oman 78.26 3,253,949 - - - - - - 2013
Suriname 75.85 416,004 - - - - - - 2015
Maldives 63.64 227,820 100 0
Tunisia 62.63 7,036,966 99.19 (2015) 0.81 (2015) 2015
Azerbaijan 60.92 5,856,215 100 0 2016
Kazakhstan 59.97 10,057,237 98.47 (2015) 1.53 (2015) 2012
Lebanon 53.43 2,916,231 100 0
Turkey 50.94 39,067,554 100 0 2016
Egypt 50.66 42,913,302 100 0 2018
Indonesia 42.05 107,518,000 99.87 (2015) 0.13 (2015) 2013
Albania 40.58 1,297,281 - - - - - - 2015
Côte d'Ivoire 40.39 8,602,170 - - - - - - 2014