Under the patronage of HE Eng. Bassem Al Rousan, Jordan’s Minister of ICT, the Fifth Annual Media and Telecommunications Convergence Conference, set to take place in Amman on the 2nd and 3rd of June, comes as the Arab World’s telecommunications and broadcast entertainment markets continue to experience strong growth in telecom subscribers and more competition, according to regional research house and conference organizer Arab Advisors Group, a member of the Arab Jordan Investment Bank Group.

By end of 2007, fixed line broadband penetration as a percent of total population ranged from 8% in Qatar to a mere 0.02% in Sudan in the Arab World. Qatar, UAE and Bahrain lead with 8%, 7.8% and 7% respectively. They are followed by Saudi Arabia (2.4%), Jordan (1.6%), Palestine (1.5%), Morocco (1.5%), Tunisia (1.1%), Lebanon (1%), Algeria (0.9%), Oman (0.7%), Egypt (0.6%), Mauritania (around 0.1%), Yemen (0.05%), Syria (0.04%) and Sudan (0.02%).

“While absolute broadband penetration in the Arab World may seem low by industrial countries standards, the effective household broadband penetration is much higher. This is related to higher number of people per household as well as line sharing. For example, a new Arab Advisors survey in Egypt revealed that 63.4% of Egyptian households that use the ADSL service, share their ADSL connection with neighbors. A massive 81.9% of households that use shared ADSL lines share them with more than three neighboring households.” Jawad J. Abbassi, Founder and General Manager of Arab Advisors Group noted. “Based on the survey results, the average number of households sharing one ADSL connection is 2.98. Multiplying the reported number of lines by this figure yields an estimate for households with ADSL connections in Egypt of 956,000 households by end of 2007, much higher than the number of accounts. While ADSL sharing is illegal in many countries and does negatively affect quality, the Arab Advisors Group believes that the practice is widespread in the Arab World. The silver lining is that more households are connected to broadband Internet services which would positively affect adoption of Internet-based services such as e-commerce, multimedia, user generated content and e-government services.” Mr. Abbassi added.

The Arab World’s Telecom and broadcast media boom will re-define the traditional boundaries that separated media and telecom companies and enable convergent services as operators chase revenues in non-traditional areas. Speakers and delegates at Arab Advisors’ Media and Telecommunications Convergence Conference 2008 will deliberate threats and opportunities inherent in this landscape change.

The Zain Group is the Main Sponsor of the Arab Advisors’ Fifth Annual Media and Telecommunications Convergence Conference 2008. Zain (formerly known as MTC) is the pioneer of mobile telecommunications in the Middle East and now a major player on the African continent. Today, the Zain Group is a leading wireless services provider and the 4th largest telecommunications company in the world in terms of geographic presence with a footprint in 7 Middle Eastern and 14 sub-Saharan countries, providing mobile voice and data services to over 45.7 million active individual and business customers. The company’s mobile telecommunications operations in Ghana will begin later in 2008.

The annual conference also received the support and sponsorship from Jawwal (Palestine), ESKADENIA Software (Jordan), GLOBITEL (Jordan), QUALCOMM, SIGNAL Communications - PRIMUSTEL (Jordan), Ericsson, Orange (Jordan), Greenpacket Networks (Bahrain) and Optimiza.

38 visionary executives and industry leaders will address the conference. Close to 400 delegates from 86 different companies already confirmed their attendance. As part of its vision to advance the knowledge and technology industries in the Arab World, the Arab Advisors Group has waived the delegate fees for telecom and broadcast operators. As for paying delegates, they receive their choice of Arab Advisors Group reports for the same value of the registration fees.

The Fifth Annual Media and Telecommunications Convergence Conference 2008 will take place at the Four Seasons Hotel in Amman on June 2&3 2008 with the backing of 10 global and regional operators and companies. Furthermore, 16 global and regional companies will also be exhibiting at the conference.

For more details and Online Registration please visit the conference web site.

A ground breaking analysis and research by Arab Advisors Group calculates the average rates for each region using each country’s local average rates for a whole day. Looking at the peak rates of each region, the Gulf and the Levant come very close. The peak terrestrial TV ad rate in the Gulf falls between 21:00 and 22:00 and is offered to advertisers at an average of US$ 1536. This is close to the Levant’s peak rate between 20:00 and 21:00 offered at US$ 1533.

The regional average terrestrial TV advertising rate represents the mean for a 30 second commercial spot for the eight countries discussed in the report. The peak regional average terrestrial TV advertising rate falls between 20:00 and 21:00 and stands at US$ 1339. The types of programs usually broadcast in the evening range from first run popular series and movies to the daily comprehensive news coverage. In addition, live shows such as talk shows and contest shows broadcast during the evening period. All rates used in the Arab Advisors’ analysis correspond to a 30 second commercial spot on a Tuesday since this is a work day for all countries in a region where weekend times differ.

A new report, “Terrestrial TV Advertising Rates in the Arab World 2007”, was released by the Arab Advisors Group on July 02, 2007. This report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 950. The 46-page report, which has 55 detailed exhibits, provides detailed analysis of the terrestrial TV advertising rates in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and UAE. The countries analyzed in the report were selected according to their geographical location to represent the Arab region. Please contact the Arab Advisors Group to get a copy of the report’s Table of Contents.

Any investment in this report will count towards an annual Strategic Research Service subscription – Media should the service be acquired within three months from purchasing the report.

“Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and the UAE respectively have the highest average terrestrial TV advertising rates, all of which lie above the regional average advertising rate of US$766 ” Ms. Lina Juma, Arab Advisors Sr. Research Analyst wrote in the report. “The regional average ad rate is calculated by averaging the regional terrestrial TV ad rates throughout a whole day”. Ms. Juma added.

The Arab Advisors Group’s team of analysts in the region has produced over 840 reports on the Arab World’s communications and media markets. The reports can be purchased individually or received through an annual subscription to Arab Advisors Group’s (www.arabadvisors.com) Strategic Research Services (Media and Telecom). To date, Arab Advisors Group has served over 430 global and regional companies by providing reliable research analysis and forecasts of Arab communications markets to these clients. Some of our clients can be viewed on http://www.arabadvisors.com/clients.htm

Optimiza sponsored the 4th Annual Media and Telecommunications Convergence Conference, organized for the 4th consecutive year in Amman by the Arab Advisors Group.

The Media and Telecommunications Convergence Conference was successfully held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Amman between June 4th and June 5th of this current year

Optimiza's sponsorship of such an important event allowed it to reaffirm its commitment to the telecom and media sector locally and regionally. The event opened great opportunities for cooperation with other companies working in the Information Technology and media fields. With a paid-up capital of 25 million Jordanian Dinars, Optimiza has become the first and only publicly traded IT company on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE: CEBC) in Jordan.

Optimiza's participation in this regional event is part of a long term strategy to focus on its client base and be involved in the development of the ICT sector in the region.

As part of Optimiza's participation in this event, Mr. Hazem Malhas, CEO of Optimiza, gave a 30 minute presentation covering 'The IT component in telecom and media companies: The role of Technology Providers.' Within that he highlighted the convergence of different technologies creating new opportunities for e-collaboration, telecom and media.

Commenting on the firm's participation Mr .Malhas said: 'We are proud and honoured to be part of such important events. Our participation has provided great opportunities for Optimiza to strengthen its partnerships with telecom and IT providers.'

This conference featured the participation of over 400 corporations from both the media and the IT sectors, and featured an array of presentations and discussion between 40 company heads on how to boost partnerships between both sides.

The Fourth Annual Media and Telecommunications Convergence Conference, set to take place in Amman on the 4th and 5th June, has been booked to capacity and organisers Arab Advisors Group a member of the Arab Jordan Investment Bank Group have announced they can take no further bookings.

The 400 confirmed delegates to the conference represent over 160 regional and global operators, vendors, government agencies, banks, and professional services companies from over 18 countries around the world.

'The response to this year's conference has been overwhelming and is a clear demonstration of how the entire area of telecom and media convergence is a real world issue, challenge and opportunity for media companies, regional telcos and governments alike,'

said Arab Advisors Group's Founder and General Manager Jawad Jalal Abbassi.

Forty senior and visionary speakers at the conference are set to bring the weight of experience of Oger Telecom, Paltel, Kalaam Telecom, Xpress, Jordan Telecom Group, MTC, Fastlink, Turk Telecom, Batelco, Cyberia, Etisalat, Intelsat, Telecom Egypt, Saudi Telecom's AlJawaal, PRIMUS Telecommunications Group and Wanadoo from the telecommunications operators side. On the media operators side, senior speakers from Yahoo!, MBC Group, Maktoob and Info2cell will be participating at the event, joined by executive speakers from major global and regional vendors like Qualcomm, AdaptiveMobile, Glimmerglass, Optimiza, Oracle, Ericsson and Globitel. Moreover, heads of Lebanon's and Jordan's regulators will be addressing the conference in addition to speakers from Arab Advisors Group, Spot on PR, Fitch Ratings, Spectrum Strategy Consultants and Booz Allen Hamilton.

'The Media and Telecommunications Convergence Conference has gone from strength to strength each year over since the first annual conference was held back in 2004, but this is the first time we have reached full capacity before a full week before the event. We set a maximum capacity for the conference to allow for an optimal networking atmosphere between all delegates' said Abbassi. 'This year's conference also promises to be the most controversial, liveliest and fascinating event ever - the stakes for both industries have never been so high.'

The Fourth Annual Media and Telecommunications Convergence Conference 2007 will take place at the Four Seasons Hotel in Amman on June 4&5 2007 with the sponsorship of 10 regional and global operators and companies.

Dubai-based Oger Telecom is the Main Sponsor of the Arab Advisors's Fourth Annual Media and Telecommunications Convergence Conference 2007. Oger Telecom is one of the region's leading Full Services telecom conglomerates with over 30 million lines under management.

The annual conference has also received the support and sponsorship of Paltel Group (Palestine), Kalaam Telecom (Bahrain), XPress (Jordan), Jordan Telecom Group, Fastlink (Jordan), QUALCOMM (United States), Optimiza (Jordan), AdaptiveMobile (Ireland) and Glimmerglass (United States).