JEDDAH: The telecom market in the UAE is set to grow at a CAGR of around 10 percent during 2008-2012, RNCOS said Friday in its report titled "Booming UAE Telecom Sector". The UAE's telecommunication market has shown tremendous growth during the recent past, mainly propelled by the government initiatives aimed at the deregulation of the market and introduction of competition. The TRA (Telecommunication Regulatory Authority) remains at the forefront of the success of the country's telecom sector, the report said. "With competition further intensifying in the market and operators looking at various alternatives to boost their revenue from mobile and Internet services, the telecom market in the UAE is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of around 10 percent during 2008 - 2012," it said. The study showed that UAE has been very progressive in its policies towards the adoption and development of ICT technology. The government has viewed an advanced ICT infrastructure as a way to attract foreign investment and to diversify the dependence of economy from oil-based resources. "We have also found that with the increasing education and business in the region, demand for Internet services has also increased during the past few years. Although dial-up subscriptions currently dominates the Internet market, we project broadband subscribers to account for nearly 65 percent of internet subscribers in coming few years," the report noted. Etisalat in December said it has launched a high capacity fiber optic submarine cable that stretches from India to Europe, in collaboration with eight other global telecom players. The 13,000-km three pair fiber optic cable named IMEWE (India-Middle East-Western Europe), has a design capacity of 3.84 terabits per second, connecting India to Italy and France via Middle East, with landings en route in Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon, Etisalat said in a statement. The IMEWE consortium comprises Bharti Airtel, Etisalat, France Telecom-Orange, Ogero, Pakistan Telecommunication Co., Saudi Telecom Co., Telecom Egypt, Telecom Italia Sparkle and Tata Communications, it added.
