In numbers. Mauritania is the most expensive in the Arab world in call and internet prices, and Egypt is the cheapest

Remarkable results resulted from a comparison conducted by Al Jazeera Net of the prices of telephone communications and the Internet in the Arab countries according to the "Nimbo" index of the cost of living, which is one of the most prominent indicators indicated in international and governmental reports in the areas of ranking the countries of the world in vital areas, such as the cost of living, the level of security, crime and others, as Mauritania - one of the poorest countries in the region - topped the list of the most expensive Arab countries in terms of the cost of telephone communications and the Internet, in contrast to Egypt occupied the top of the list of the cheapest countries in the region in prices Calls and Internet.

When extrapolating the reasons behind the high or low cost of calls and the Internet in the world as a whole - including the Arab countries - some of the main factors that control the pricing of these services emerge as follows:

• Market competition: Strong competition between telecom companies and the Internet gives customers more choice and competitive prices.
• Volume of consumption: The price can also be affected by the volume of internet data or the number of minutes used.
• Technology used: The price of communications depends on the technology used, as the type of network, signal quality and internet speed can affect the price of the service.
• Taxes and Fees: Many taxes and fees are levied on telecommunications services, which may affect the final price of the service.

Accurate Calls Rates

In terms of telephony rates, Arab countries can be classified into 5 categories:

Over a dollar per minute denomination: Mauritania.
A category where the cost ranges between 20 cents and dollars: Lebanon and the UAE.
A category where the cost ranges from 10 cents to 19 cents: Qatar, Palestine, Oman, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.
A category where the cost ranges between two years ($0.02) and 9 cents ($0.09): Iraq. Kuwait, Bahrain, Sudan, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Yemen, Jordan and Syria.
A fifth category where the cost of a minute of call is much less than one cent ($0.006): Egypt.

Monthly Internet Subscription

The Arab countries are divided into 4 categories:

A category where the cost exceeds $ 100: Mauritania and the United Arab Emirates.
A category where the cost ranges between $60 and $95: Sudan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Lebanon, Palestine, Algeria, Syria.
A third category in which the cost ranges between $23 and $53: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia.
A fourth category with a subscription price of less than $20 per month ($15.4): Egypt.

The case of Mauritania

Mauritanians have been complaining for years about the exorbitant high prices of telecommunications and the Internet, which is accompanied by poor services, one of the most prominent features of which is the lack of network in many parts of the country, including the capital Nouakchott.

Mauritanians pay 4.2 times more per minute of phone calls than the Lebanese, whose country ranks second, and 1683,3 times more than Egyptians, and in terms of internet prices, Mauritanians pay for the monthly subscription 6.8% more than residents of the UAE, which ranks second, and <>.<> times more than Egyptians.

Mauritania records these high levels in the prices of communications and the Internet, despite the fact that it is one of the poorest Arab countries in terms of income ($ 2166 per year per capita), while the annual income of the Egyptian reaches $ 3698, and the income of the Lebanese to $ 4136, according to the latest figures of the World Bank.

In recent years, several protests have been held in front of the headquarters of the authority in charge of monitoring telecommunications companies and others in Nouakchott, to denounce the high prices and poor service provided, whether it is related to telephone communication or Internet services, including by the Mauritanian Association for Consumer Protection in November 2016.

Although government authorities periodically impose fines on telecommunications companies (3 companies) for violating the terms of the Book of Liabilities, the value of these fines is not comparable to the revenues these companies generate, and they are much less than what is required of them to develop telecommunications and Internet services.

The World Bank says in a December 2022 report that Mauritania suffers from limited international telecommunications services, which explains the high cost and low quality of Internet services.

The report adds that the broadband internet penetration rate is only 3%, and the number of Internet users in the country is 41%.

He pointed out that several regions in Mauritania are deprived of telephone and Internet services, which requires strengthening the country's regulatory and institutional capacities to meet the growing demand for information and communication technology, and the World Bank notes that investments by telecommunications and Internet service providers are very limited.

case of egypt

The Egyptian pays a price for a minute of phone calls 3.3 times cheaper than the Syrian, knowing that Syria is the second cheapest Arab country in the cost of calls, and the Egyptian pays 40 times less than his Lebanese counterpart, whose country ranks second among the most expensive Arab countries in telecommunications prices.

In terms of the cost of monthly internet subscription, prices in Egypt are 32.7% lower than in Tunisia (the second cheapest Arab country), 6.8 times lower than in Mauritania, and 6.6 times lower than prices in the UAE.

One of the most important factors behind the low cost of telephone communications and the Internet in the most populous Arab countries (about 110 million people) is the population density that provides large revenues for telecommunications and Internet companies and pushes them to submit low price offers, in addition to the volume of consumption, as Egypt has more than 120 million mobile phone chips, which exceeds the country's population.

The large consumer market in Egypt pushes telecommunications companies to offer competitive offers on telecommunications and internet packages, as all competing companies (4 companies) offer call packages in which the price per minute decreases as the volume of consumption increases.

Another element that contributes to reducing the cost of telecommunications and the Internet in Egypt is that the country has many companies that manufacture telecommunications and Internet devices and provide the country with the necessary infrastructure, which contributes to improving the efficiency of the sector and reducing costs.

The World Bank says that Egypt has one of the most developed telecommunications sectors in the region, contributing 4% of the country's economy, and the country ranks among the 3 Arab countries that are the cheapest in terms of prices for fixed and mobile services, as the price of one gigabyte of mobile broadband Internet represents 0.2% of GDP per capita, while the percentage in the entire Middle East and North Africa region reaches 3%.

The price of fixed broadband Internet represents 3.3% of GDP per capita compared to 8% in the region.