� Business Monitor International Ltd Page - on the demand side, we believe Zain Saudi Arabia is in the weakest position to face these challenges, given its greater reliance on migrant workers and other lower-value customers for subscriptions and revenue growth and its less-developed enterprise services portfolio. From the consumer perspective, we believe the introduction of a value-added tax in the GCC countries in ---- will negatively impact household incomes while weighing on consumer demand for telecoms services. ...For instance, STC and Etisalat launched Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) service in an effort to stimulate greater engagement with advanced services, and deepen relationships with existing customers. While Ooredoo recently partnered with Expert Software to launch an in-vehicle monitoring system (IVMS) in an effort to expand its machine-to-machine (M-M) connectivity, the Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile and wireline convergence as a means of enhancing its revenue-creation prospects. The GCC is already a fertile market for M-M and IoT, with STC, Etisalat and Ooredoo all leading the way in the enterprise market, but we believe a more consumer-friendly focus needs to be adopted in the higher-spending GCC markets. ...While Ooredoo recently partnered with Expert Software to launch an in-vehicle monitoring system (IVMS) in an effort to expand its machine-to-machine (M-M) connectivity, the Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile and wireline convergence as a means of enhancing its revenue-creation prospects. The GCC is already a fertile market for M-M and IoT, with STC, Etisalat and Ooredoo all leading the way in the enterprise market, but we believe a more consumer-friendly focus needs to be adopted in the higher-spending GCC markets.
...By contrast, we expect broadband subscriptions to record modest growth over our five-year forecast period, growing from --.-mn in ---- to --.-mn by ----, for a penetration rate of --.- . Dedicated mobile broadband will play a role especially in emerging markets with limited legacy wireline infrastructure and in areas where rolling out fixed broadband is unprofitable. ...Governments are increasingly focused on developing ICT strategies in order to support economic growth, while consumers are gradually migrating to more advanced multi-play bundles requiring faster network speeds. For instance, Dubai s gradual transformation towards becoming a smart city has been a collaborative effort across multiple different sectors; the shift was primarily due to the high capacity and dense coverage of mobile and wireline broadband networks operated by Etisalat and du. The emergence of a wide range of video-on-demand (VOD) services, combined with near-universal LTE coverage in the GCC, will also drive broadband uptake. Industry Trends - Wireline Sector (---------) Main telephone lines in service, --- Broadband internet subscribers, --- ---- ---- ---- ----f ----f ----f ----f ----f - ---,--- --,--- --,--- --,--- f = BMI forecast.
...More mature markets in the GCC will record fewer additional mobile data users, as the penetration of -G/ LTE services is high. Telecoms operators in the GCC are developing convergence strategies to monetise their -G networks that support more data-intensive content. ...
