Are we getting ripped off? Arab telecom regulators say: Kinda

If you think you're paying too much for phone calls and internet access, it may be worth checking out a report released yesterday. It gives a perspective and context on the cost of telecom services across the Arab world, when compared to average OECD prices.

The bottom line is basically what you would expect - people in the Middle East are paying a lot for internet access and way too much for international calls, while the relative cost of mobile services is decreasing.

Some thoughts on all of this, after the jump:

This is all in line with the competitive environment - most countries in the region have increasingly competitive mobile markets, not many have truly competitive internet markets, and almost none have competition in the international gateway - a big factor in international calling and internet access.

Anyhow, I'll look into all this more today, so watch this space. In the meantime, you can check out a copy of the full report here. 

It is good to see these kind of independent benchmarking reports getting released by the region's regulators - this one was commissioned by AREGNET, the association of Arab telecom regulators. My only quibble is with their method for gauging the cost of services - they translate prices into US dollars, and then divide the result by purchasing power (PPP) in each country.

While that may be somewhat fair, accomodating for different costs and disposable incomes to make a general measure of affordability, it skews the results in favour of small, ultra wealthy Gulf states like Qatar and the UAE.

Both have crazily high average incomes - skewed massively by the top end of the economic pyramid - which means even though internet access in the UAE can cost almost $200 per month, the report says it is more affordable here than in Egypt, where it costs less than $50.

It's basically a philosophical question of whether the cost of a mobile call or internet account should scale according to local incomes. It should, but probably more at the bottom than the top - if people are earning $2 a day, then it makes sense that they should expect mobile calls at one cent per minute. But Bill Gates shouldn't be paying $5000 per minute, no matter how awful Windows Mobile is.