People in the UAE are more satisfied with prices of calls from their mobile phones than they were in 2010 as the proportion of individuals with a mobile phone rises to 99.9 per cent this year, according to Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) survey.
The TRA released the results after investigating the use of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) in UAE households by comparing statistics from 2010 with 2012 and showing how usage and various technologies in homes across the UAE have changed over the past two years.
“The findings of this survey are enlightening. Committed to being responsive, the TRA actively measures the usage of household technology as a means of ensuring the best possible regulatory framework is in place to serve the nation. Throughout this project, the very latest international research methods were used in an effort to guarantee the credibility of our findings.” Mohammad Nasser Al Ganem, TRA Director General, said in a statement.
The findings show that the use of mobile phones, multiple SIM cards, PCs, broadband and levels of customer satisfaction were all measured.
High-speed broadband
“The proportion of individuals with a mobile phone has risen to 99.9 per cent this year compared to 99 per cent in 2010 while the proportion of households with a fixed-line phone rose marginally to 50 per cent this year compared to 46 per cent in 2010,” the report said.
People using the post-paid mobile subscriptions remained the same at 14 per cent this year.
As the number of people shifting to high-speed broadband increased, the survey indicates that the public is more satisfied with telecommunications services this year.
A big jump in high-speed broadband occurred in 4-8 Mbps at 37 per cent compared to 5 per cent in 2010 while the 16-30Mbps registered a small increase from one per cent in 2010 to four per cent this year.
“The number of people with multiple SIM cards rose to 32 per cent in 2012 compared to 28 per cent in 2010 while the proportion of individuals with a profile on a social networking site has also increased from 45 per cent in 2010 to 69 per cent in 2012,” the survey showed.
However, while mobile internet subscriptions are rapidly increasing with people from different income classes subscribing, satisfaction on price of this service has decreased since 2010.
On the other side, complaints related to internet and fixed line services this year rose due to the increase in uptake of double and triple play packages.
The TRA conducts the “Household Survey” every other year with the latest report sourcing data from 2,045 households and 2,045 individuals.
