IPTV flourishes in the Persian Gulf

Thursday, February 6th, 2014
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IPTV flourishes in the GCC countries while the service is still in its early stages in the rest of the Arab world

Fourteen service providers in nine countries in the Arab World offered IPTV services by October 2013, up from eleven service providers in eight countries offering IPTV by year-end 2011. As broadband adoption increases in the region, several operators in the Arab World have plans to implement IPTV in the near future. In the GCC countries; including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE, FTTH expansion has triggered strong demand for Triple Play services.

A new report from Arab Advisors Group overviews the IPTV services in the Arab world by October 2013. IPTV is in its initial stage of penetration in the Arab World, and is still developing. Fourteen service providers in nine countries in the MENA region offer IPTV services. These countries are: Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The adoption of IPTV is flourishing in the GCC countries in particular; by September 2013 STC managed to increase its IPTV subscription base by 76% over the corresponding period of 2012. The markets in UAE and Qatar also registered strong uptake of IPTV services; for example Ooredoo’s triple play accounts jumped from 31,873 by yearend 2010 to 88,398 by September 2013; a growth of 177%.

Reportedly, there are ongoing or planned projects by service providers and/or governments in six other countries, with the aim to upgrade the countries’ legacy networks and install fiber optics to facilitate offering services including IPTV in the near future. These countries are: Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania and Tunisia.

A new report “IPTV in the Arab World 2014” was released to the Arab Advisors Group’s Media Strategic Research Service subscribers on January 20, 2014. This report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 1,500. The 104-page report, which has 77 detailed exhibits, provides a comprehensive analysis of the IPTV availability in the Arab world, IPTV services providers, their bundled packages and lists of the offered free to air and pay TV channels.