New Arab Advisors research covering 17 major Arab markets reveals that Egypt has the lowest total cost of residential ADSL service in the region. Syria lies on the opposite extreme with the highest cost of ADSL service.
The regional average cost for a 256 Kbps residential ADSL connection stands at US$ 956 per year (US$ 80 per month), a figure that is quite high by global standards which surely limits uptake of broadband Internet in the Arab World.
In addition to relatively high ADSL costs in virtually all Arab countries, quite a few still do not have the ADSL broadband Internet service. The remedy, as the Egyptian example shows, is infrastructure-based competition between operators. (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
