UAE enjoys most 'affordable' broadband rates in Gulf

The United Arab Emirates enjoys one of the lowest ADSL broadband internet rates in the Gulf, the latest Arab Advisors report claimed.

According to the ADSL Affordability Measure (AAM) used in the report, Mauritania had the most expensive services compared to 18 other Arab countries – registering at 92.5% of GDP per capita for 256 Kbps speeds and 157.3% for 512 Kbps speeds.

AAM involves the total annual cost of ADSL in a country being calculated as a % of that country’s GDP per capita. The higher the ratio, the less affordable the service is in that country.

The report studied broadband rates in nineteen countries including Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen.

For speeds of 256 Kbps, Iraq registered 58.8%, with Saudi Arabia at 4.2%, Bahrain at 2.3%, Kuwait at 1.8% and the UAE placed at the bottom with 1.3%.For 512 Kbps, Qatar had the most affordable service registering just 1.4%, followed closely by the UAE at 1.6%.