UAE, Saudi among 'most attractive' MENA telecoms market: Fitch

The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries remain the "most attractive" telecoms market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, supported by consumers’ spending power, economic diversification, and investment into advanced technologies, Fitch Solutions said in a recent report.

The UAE maintained its place at the top of the consultancy's Telecoms Risk Reward Index despite a 1.5 point decrease. Saudi Arabia came in second as its score declined marginally by 0.1 point due to a slightly lower country risk score.

In the face of limited organic growth opportunities, with the penetration rate reaching 131 percent in Q3 2018 in the UAE, operators Etisalat and du are focusing on high value post-paid and enterprise subscriptions while shedding inactive prepaid subscriptions, the consultancy added.

However, Kuwait, with a similar high penetration rate, saw its industry reward score fall due to a decline in mobile subscribers, including prepaid and post-paid subscribers.

While Bahrain and Oman have not seen their scores change this quarter,  Morocco, Iraq and Iran saw the strongest improvements to their telecoms scores at 2.4, 1.3 and 2.1 points, respectively.

Egypt fell by one spot despite no changes to its score this quarter, the consultancy added.