The Arab Advisors Group released the results of its Cellular Competition Intensity Index 2015 in September 2015. Saudi Arabia maintained its rank as the Arab World's most competitive cellular market for the fifth consecutive year.
By August 2015, the top four competitive Arab cellular markets; Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Palestine and Iraq maintained their 2014's ranks in the Cellular Competition Intensity Index; Saudi Arabia scored 85.08%, followed by Jordan with 75.92%, Palestine came next with 75.19% followed by Iraq with 69.76%, Bahrain with 65.33%, and Egypt with 64.48%. Tunisia maintained its 2014's seventh rank with 62.45%. Kuwait came next with 61.43%, followed by a drop in the rank for Morocco, Oman and Algeria with 61.52%, 61.21% and 60.23% respectively. Yemen obtained its twelfth rank with a score of 57.97%, followed by Sudan (57.39%), Mauritania (56.31%), United Arab Emirates (51.32%), Qatar (50.80%), and Lebanon (41.83%). Libya stepped up with a score of 35.20% followed by Syria with 34.99%.
The Cellular Competition Intensity Index is relative in nature as it compares the state of every market relative to other markets. As such, even if a market's absolute level of competition improved, its score in this relative index will also depend on how other markets developed.
For the fifth year in a row, Saudi Arabia maintains its first rank in the Cellular markets' competition levels in the Arab world. Saudi Arabia score benefited from four operational and licensed MNOs in addition to two operational MVNOs. Saudi Arabia scored fully for the availability of smartphone plans, corporate offers, 3G/4G LTE and International Long Distance competition.