The Middle East’s total spending on information technology (IT) will total US$211 billion this year, an 8 per cent increase on 2013, according to a report from the US-based research company Gartner.
By 2018, the region will spend $243bn, representing 5.6 per cent of worldwide IT spending. The global growth rate in spending this year will be 3.2 per cent, increasing the market size to $4 trillion, about 5 per cent of the world’s GDP.
Driven by consumer spending on mobile and smart devices, government initiatives towards smart cities and the Internet of Things, the region's spending will grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 5.6 per cent until 2018.
Telecoms services account for more than half of total spending at $156.4bn, up from $149.2bn in 2013. This year, spending on devices such as mobile phones, tablets, PCs and printers will reach $37.2bn, up 30 per cent from last year. Mobile phone spending is forecast to surpass $39bn in 2018.
“[IT spending in the Middle East] is not a significant part of the global market, but in terms of spending as it relates to GDP, it is very healthy and the growth rate is particularly healthy,” said Peter Sondergaard, the senior vice president and head of research at Gartner.
Much of the growth comes from the GCC region as governments continue to invest in the public sector and infrastructure.
“This is resulting in a rapid adoption of things like more modernised cloud models. In fact the region in some aspects is equal to or ahead of other regions,” said Mr Sondergaard. “For example cloud adoption in enterprise is at 40 per cent, whereas globally only 25 per cent of large enterprises have adopted cloud computing services.”
The report coincides with the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) World Telecommunications Development Conference, taking place in Dubai, where delegates from around the world are addressing the technical and regulatory frameworks required to bring more people online.
“Since the beginning of this millennium, mobile cellular subscriptions have continued to rise, social media usage has rocketed and an ever-increasing number of people across the globe have been able to access the internet, making use of the immeasurable quantity of information that greater connectivity provides,” said Mohamed Al Ghanim, director general of the UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority and chairman of the conference.
This has led to increased IT spending not just in consumer devices but telecoms spending to keep pace with demand.
“Where the region needs to focus now is more in the areas of accountability and focus around the governance of IT,” said Mr Sondergaard. “Secondly, for rapid expansion, the region will need to continuously focus on education so you can increase the skills that allow for the exploitation of information, what’s today called big data.
thamid@thenational.ae
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