The Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of the UAE (TRA) released its “ICT in UAE; Business Survey 2013”. A business survey that 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 1,502 businesses across the UAE participated in this research and was limited to businesses with 10 or more employees.
“The provision of accurate and timely ICT information provides an important input into the overall assessment of the nation s ICT sector in the UAE and is therefore key to the effective and efficient functioning of this it. The TRA conducts these surveys every two years and considers them an invaluable tool when seeking to inform all relevant stakeholders, the general public included, in the current state of the UAE ICT sector,” said Majed Almesmar, TRA Deputy Director General for Telecommunications Sector.
The survey spanned multiple services including fixed telephony, mobile telephony, Internet, advanced 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 latest edition of the survey complements the TRA s previous surveys on usage of ICT services in the UAE undertaken in 2011 (available at: http://www.tra.gov.ae/ict in uae.php). The full 2013 survey is available online on the TRA s official website, ww.tra.gov.ae, with some of the key findings including: 100% of businesses had a Fixed telephone line 100% of businesses had a personal computer 95% of businesses had an internet connection 49% of employees were using the internet at work 65% of businesses provided their employees with a paid mobile phone 75% of businesses had website presence 95% of businesses had some type of advanced network services. Of these 82% had a local area network (LAN).
Fixed Telephony indicators: 100% of businesses had a fixed line service 28% of businesses spent more than 3,000 AED per month on fixed telephony Mobile Telephony indicators: 65% of businesses provided their employees with a paid mobile phone.
- 40% of businesses had a postpaid subscription only.
- 66% of businesses spent more than 1,000 AED per a month on mobile telephony.
- Internet indicators: 95% of businesses had an internet connection.
- Of those businesses with internet connection, 87% had a fixed broadband connection and 16% had dial-up internet.
- 27% of businesses with broadband connections were at speed of 2 Mbps or less.
- 49% of employees were using the internet at work.
- 99% of employees were using the internet to send/receive emails 75% of businesses had a website.
- 23% used .ae domain.
- E-Commerce indicators: 18% of the businesses made online purchases.
- 15% of the businesses offered online sales.
- Businesses Satisfaction indicators: 93% of businesses were satisfied with their overall fixed telephony service.
- 93% of businesses were satisfied with their overall mobile telephony service 91% of businesses were satisfied with their overall internet service.
- 40% of businesses had at one stage complained to their service provider.
- 3% of businesses had at one stage complained to the TRA about their service provider.
