Mena countries told to get on same wavelength in mobile data

There are 327 million smartphone connections forecast for the region by 2020.

The GSMA said that last year, of the 850,000 jobs created in the region by the sector, the majority were in the distribution and retail of mobile technology. Dhiraj Singh / Bloomberg

Countries in the Middle East and North Africa need to “harmonise” spectrum vital to meet the expected demand for mobile data usage from the 327 million smartphone connections forecast by 2020, according to a senior trade body ­official.

Spectrum is the electromagnetic bandwidth necessary for telecommunication systems to operate.

It is limited by the number of radio frequency bands which are also being used by the military and broadcasters.

The United Nations telecoms agency, the ITU, forecasts that between 1,340 MHz and 1,960 MHz of spectrum will be required by 2020 to meet demand for data traffic globally. Only 206 MHz of spectrum is currently available for mobile in the Middle East and North Africa, compared to 460 MHz in Europe, according to the ITU.

“Spectrum is the life of mobile networks, without it you don’t have mobile,” John Giusti, head of policy at GSMA, said at a conference on the sidelines of the Gitex event in Dubai this week.

A harmonised spectrum refers to the uniform allocation of radio frequency bands across entire regions, and not just individual countries.

“You harmonise the spectrum so that the way the spectrum is used in the UAE is the same as the one used in France or Australia,” said Mr Giusti. “This means that the same equipment can be used. This means more devices can be produced.”

Ahmad Julfar, Etisalat’s group chief executive, speaking at the same Dubai conference, highlighted the limited availability of spectrum capacity in its areas of operation. “In the UAE there is more spectrum available than the other 19 markets that we operate in,” said Mr Julfar.

“But even then, because of the huge demand for content that is streamed over mobile there’s much more demand for spectrum. This is a big challenge that operators are facing globally.”

The issue of spectrum availability will be discussed at the World Radiocommunication Conference in Geneva next month. Mobile operators, broadcasters, regulators and policymakers will meet to discuss the allocation of more spectrum for the mobile industry to cope with the growing demand for data and content.

Mr Giusti also warned Mena governments not to tax their mobile operators too heavily or risk a reduction in investment by the sector. “When you have taxes that are targeted at mobile, they drive down usage, but when you get rid of these taxes you have a great expansion of usage and the result is more revenue to the treasury.”

The GSMA said that last year, of the 850,000 jobs created in the region by the sector, the majority were in the distribution and retail of mobile technology. As well as direct employment, there were other jobs created around the “mobile ecosystem”. About 430,000 jobs were created in 2014 under the latter category, according to the GSMA.

The GSMA also predicted that subscriber growth will “slow down” in the Mena region by 2020. By the end of last year, the unique subscriber base in Mena was at 199 million, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of 7 per cent over the past five years and in line with the global average.

However, because of the high penetration in the region and political instability, about 233 million unique subscribers are forecast for the region by 2020, representing a slower annual growth rate of 2.7 per cent, which will be below the world average of 3.7 per cent.

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