A new Arab Advisors Group report reveals that by end of 2009, a total of twenty nine operators in thirteen Arab countries offered 3G/3.5G cellular services. The most common 3G/3.5G services offered by the operators are mobile Internet, followed by video calling and mobile TV. More operators are expected to commercially launch their 3G/3.5G services in 2010, these include: Orange in Jordan, Tunisie Orange Telecom in Tunisia and Wataniya Mobile in Palestine.

By the end of 2009, thirteen countries in the Arab World had commercial 3G/3.5G services. The third generation technology (3G/3.5G) allows mobile operators to provide an array of mobile services that require higher speeds. These services include: Local and international video calling, mobile Internet (broadband Internet), mobile TV, video mail, video monitoring and multiplayer gaming.

A new report, “3G/3.5G Cellular Services in the Arab World” was released to Arab Advisors Group’s Communications Strategic Research Service subscribers on February 8, 2010. The 76-page report, which has 103 detailed exhibits, fully analyzes and compares the 3G/3.5G services offered by twenty seven operators in the Arab world, as well as providing an in-depth profile of the 3G/3.5G services offered by each operator. Countries that offered commercial 3G/3.5G services by year-end 2009 are: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and UAE. This report details the offerings of twenty seven operators in twelve of these countries. Iraq’s main operators do not offer 3G services which were reportedly offered by a provincial operator. Furthermore, Wana the third cellular operator in Morocco only offers 3G voice services and offers mobile Internet services to its corporate subscribers only.

An investment in the report can count towards attending Arab Advisors' 7th annual Media and Telecoms Convergence Conference on June 7 & 8 2010 at the Four Seasons in Amman.

“The Arab Advisors Group analysis of the 3G/3.5G operators revealed that all twenty seven operators offer mobile Internet. The local video calling service is offered by twenty two operators. Mobile TV is the third most common 3G service among the operators, and it is offered by thirteen operators.” Ms. Danya Nusseir, Arab Advisors Senior Research Analyst, and the author of the report, said. “Our research shows that by the end of 2009, Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia and Yemen did not have commercial 3G/3.5G services”. Ms. Nusseir added.

“Ten more operators commercially launched 3G/3.5G services in the Arab World since April 2008. The number of cellular operators that provide 3G/3.5G services in the Arab World stood at nineteen in April 2008. The substantial increase in the number of 3G/3.5G operators bodes well for the development of the Arab broadband markets” Dr. Nasser Jabari, Arab Advisors Director of Research and Consulting, noted.