1. Barriers to Internet penetration in the Arab Region Vanessa.Gray@itu.int International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) Arab Region Internet and Telecom Summit Muscat, Oman, May 28-30 2001

2. Content 1.Internet in the Arab World : looking at the facts 2. Barriers to Internet penetration: quantitative versus qualitative factors 3. Conclusions: how to increase Internet penetration

3. Internet penetration around the world Source: ITU, data for 2000

4. Internet user growth Source: ITU

5. Comparing Internet penetration Internet users as % of population in 2000

6. Barriers to Internet usage Quantitative factors GDP per capita Infrastructure Access prices Qualitative factors Language Literacy Content

7. GDP per capita and Internet use Source: ITU, Worldbank, 2000 GDP per capita, US$ Internet use (%)

8. Quantitative factors Country Telephone subscribers Mobile subscribers (000s ) 2000 Internet subscribers (000s), 2000 Mobile / Internet ratio (000s) 2000 Connected to Internet Bahrain17112.8%206229 Egypt54841.6%13609015 Jordan6205.2%3893212 Kuwait46712.8%476608 Lebanon68114.7%7001007 Morocco14252.1%23423077 Oman22510.6%164247 Qatar1606.5%1191011 Saudi Arabia 29656.7%13762007 Tunisia9004.1%110373 UAE102020.6%14282107 TOTAL/ AVERAGE 141188.9%867081515 Source: ITU

9. Comparing access prices Thirty hours of dial-up Internet usage per month, US$ Source: ITU adapted from ISP and PTO data, 2001

10. Qualitative factors Region Internet penetration Adult literacy rate (%) Female adult literacy rate (%) School enrolment (%) Developing countries 2.9 72.7 64.560.4 Arab States2.259.741.061.7 East Asia9.383.475.571.0 South Asia0.354.342.365 Latin America 3.287.786.765.3 Sub- Saharan Africa 0.659.651.641.4 Source: UNDP-HDI 200 and ITU (Internet penetration).

11. Language 322 189 182 175 170 125 98 22%20% 4% 5% 1% 2% 0% 6% 2% 54% Mandarin Spanish English Bengali Hindi Arabic Portuguese Russian Japanese German 885 332 22% 20% 4%5%1%2%0%6%2%54% Population (in million) % Online Source: ITU adapted from www.sil.org/ethnologue/ and www.glreach.com, 1998

12. Content

13. Conclusion ISPs should be allowed to provide their own international gateways in order to lower costs and increase speed The region needs more local content, adapted to the users needs as well as computerized online governments Internet friendly tariffs Governments should provide public Internet access All schools should be connected to the Internet and IT courses should be part of the curriculum The visibility and benefits of the Internet need to be raised

14. Thank you Vanessa.Gray@itu.int