Arab internet users poised to double to 50m people by 2009

Dubai: Arab internet usage is poised to double to 50 million in three years, from the current 26 million, among the 290 million people in the region, experts said.

"Although challenged by a severe lack of content in the native language, we expect this to change in the near future, bringing the Internet closer to the general non-English speaking population making it a more useful and productive tool that can contribute to the overall advancement of the region, said Google chief Eric Schmidt.

The top priorities for the Arab World today are health, education, training and creation of job opportunities, according to Schmidt.

Schmidt, who is also Co-Chair of the upcoming 4th Arab Strategy Forum (ASF 2006), will be addressing delegates at the event, which will be held from 4-6 December in Dubai.

Highlighting the region's need for advanced IT capabilities to "leap frog" into the modern era, he said ICT can provide local business with larger target markets, bringing economies of scale to even the smallest business.

"For example, sellers in Morocco can find buyers in the UAE and vice versa. The Internet can become the 'great equaliser' for small and medium enterprises giving them marketing and sales tools previously available only to large corporations.

"Today, this region of 290 million people has only 26 million internet users. These are expected to grow to 50 million by 2009 making the Arab World a sizeable market," said Schmidt.