Battle to roll out broadband hots up

With mobile subscriptions often exceeding the number of inhabitants in some Gulf countries, cash-rich, former monopolistic telecommunications operators are looking for a new revenue stream with growth potential.

Increasingly, their eyes are alighting on providing high-speed internet access – or broadband.

High-speed internet remains rare in the Gulf outside certain population pockets. A main problem for Arab households has been the cost: broadband and good-quality computers cost more in the Gulf than in many other markets, says Fouad Alaeddin, managing partner at Ernst & Young Middle East.