By:
The Next Silicon Valley
Posted on:
February 19, 2010 1:08pm
The Arab World, the Future, the Internet
HIGH GROWTH: Google vice president Vinton Cerf believes internet usage in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region will grow almost 50 percent over the next three years.
This bright and promising outlook is shared in a series of recent reports and studies about the region, most notably, the forecast and outlook, below, sourced from a report in StartUpArabia, a website dedicated to new Arab technology startups, services, and the entrepreneurs behind them.
According to the StartupArabia report as well as other recent, regional studies from The National, Zawya, BI-ME, Arabian Business, AMEInfo, the number of Arabic internet users in the Middle East and North Africa is expected to grow by nearly 50% over the next three years, rising to 82 million users by 2013. [Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist, Google]
This is compared to the present, where there are roughly around 56 million Arab internet users in the Arab world, representing only 17% of the 337 million population. [Madar Research]
Also looking ahead, broadband usage in the region is expected to grow at an annual rate of 25% until 2013. [Arab Media Outlook report]
Broadband growth around the region over the next five years will stimulate the media industry, driven largely by Egypt and Saudi Arabia. [Arab Media Outlook report]
Internet advertising spend in the Middle East will rise to at least 4.5% by 2013, to around $266 million. [Arab Media Outlook report]
See more details here, with follow up coverage behind these headlines:
With the Launch of the 1st Arabic Social Media Monitoring Service, Will Regional Marketers Turn into Social Media?
ArabNet 2010: Nurturing the Internet Ecosystem in the Region
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