TRA Announces the ICT Business Survey 2011

 

Mobilk - The Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of the UAE (TRA) today released its business survey entitled “ICT in UAE; Business Survey – 2011”. The survey focuses on business usage of ICT services in the UAE with the aim to better understand business perception on their usage, and demands for, ICT services. A total of 1,500 businesses across the UAE participated in this Survey. The survey was limited to businesses with 10 or more employees. This Survey is available for download on the TRA’s website ww.tra.gov.ae under “ICT in the UAE”

 

The Survey spanned multiple services including fixed telephony, mobile telephony, Internet, advance telecommunication services and E-commerce. Across these services, the survey examined the access to, and the use of ICT by businesses in the UAE along with their engagement in E-commerce and their satisfaction levels. 

 

The main highlights of the survey in 2011 are:

 

•96% of businesses had a personal computer

•92% of businesses had an internet connection

•46% of employees were using the internet at work

•60% of  businesses provided their employees with a paid mobile phone

•99% of businesses had a fixed line service

•70% of businesses had website presence

•92% of businesses had some type of advanced network services. Of these 85% had a local area network (LAN)

 

Fixed Telephony indicators:

 

•99% of businesses had a fixed line service

•91% of calls originating from a fixed line were domestic calls

•28% of total international calls from a fixed phone were to India

•66% of businesses spent more than 1000 AED per month on fixed telephony

Mobile Telephony indicators:

 

•60% of businesses provided their employees with a paid mobile phone

•53% of businesses had a postpaid subscription only•87% of calls originating from a mobile line were domestic calls

•29% of total international calls from a mobile phone were to India

•64% of businesses spent more than 1000 AED per a month on mobile telephony

 

Internet indicators:

 

•92% of  businesses had an internet connection 

•94% of these businesses had a fixed broadband connection

•55% of these businesses’ broadband connections were the speed of 2 Mbps or less

•7% of businesses had a dial-up connection

•46% of employees were using the internet at work

•99% of employees were using the internet to send/receive emails

•70% of businesses had a website. Of these 23% used.ae domain

 

E-Commerce indicators:

 

•11% of the businesses made online purchases

•5% of the businesses offered online sales

 

Businesses Satisfaction indicators:

 

•87% of businesses were satisfied with their overall fixed telephony service•87% of businesses were satisfied with their overall mobile telephony service•83% of businesses were satisfied with their overall internet service•54% of businesses had at one stage complained to their service provider•19% of businesses had at one stage complained to the TRA about their service provider.Commenting on the Survey the Director General of the TRA, Mr. Mohamed Al Ghanim said “The provision of accurate and timely ICT information provides an important input into the overall assessment of the ICT sector in the UAE, and is therefore key to the effective and efficient functioning of this sector. Mr. Al Ghanim added “The TRA conducts these surveys every 2 years and considers them important to informing the stakeholders, and the general public, of the state of the ICT sector in the UAE”.

 

This Survey complements the TRA’s previous surveys on usage of ICT services in the UAE undertaken in 2010 (available at: http://www.tra.gov.ae/ict in uae.php).

 

Other ICT surveys have been carried out by the TRA:

 

•In 2008 UAE ICT Survey.

•In 2010 Household Survey.