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Ninety percent of Lebanese GSM users send SMS; youth market tops nearly 96% |
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By Michael Schwartz
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18 Jan 2008 15:16 GMT+1 |
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News, Markets, Mobile, GSM, SMS, Lebanon, MENA: SMS has taken hold in the Lebanese market. As Lebanon’s telecoms market may well be on the way to liberalisation, Arab Advisory Group figures show that only 10% of GSM users do not use SMS – a figure that is barely 5% among the young.
Findings by the Arab Advisors Group show that 89.8% of Lebanon’s GSM users report using SMS, while among the young SMS use increases to close to 96%. The statistics are part of a major new Arab Advisors Group survey of Lebanon’s cellular users, an analysis into what has been called an idiosyncratic telecoms market that is slated for liberalisation and privatization.
The survey found that 12.8% of Lebanon’s GSM users share their phone lines with other members of their families. This indicates pent-up demand for cellular services in Lebanon and bodes well for the country’s mobile penetration, which is below regional levels.
Lebanon Cellular Users Survey was concluded on December 15, 2007. It provides the results of a major comprehensive survey of the cellular usage patterns and habits of the population in LebanonLebanon’s urban cellular users do not use the Internet.
For Jawad Abbassi, Founder and General Manager of Arab Advisors Group: “This underlines the fact that the only way to reliably cover the cellular markets is through face-to-face surveys. On-line surveys are suitable for analysing Internet users and usage habits but remain inherently biased and non-indicative for more main stream markets such as cellular markets.”
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Date: 22 - 26 September, 2008