The Kingdom ranked 84th globally in the 2010 IPB.
The IPB, which is part of the "Measuring the Information Society" report released this week by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), combined the average cost of the "sub-baskets" of fixed-telephone, mobile-cellular and fixed-broadband Internet services in 161 countries.
The IPB reflects the diversity in terms of income and development levels, with ICT services relatively more affordable in high-income economies.
The report showed that Macao, Norway and Singapore topped the 2011 IPB rankings with the most affordable ICT services.
Regionally, Qatar came first, followed by the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria, according to the report, posted on the ITU's website.
According to the report, the IPB is the value calculated from the sum of the price of each sub-basket in US dollars as a percentage of a country's monthly gross national income per capita divided by three.
"Data for the three ICT services are collected through the ITU ICT price basket questionnaire, which is sent out annually to all ITU member states/national statistical contacts," the report said.
"Countries that ranked ahead of Jordan in the IPB have a higher income for individuals. The IPB measures affordability while taking into account the income of individuals in each of the countries polled," Jawad Abbassi, founder and general manager of Arab Advisors Group, said Wednesday.
"For example, GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] states rank better than Jordan not because the services in the GCC states are cheaper than Jordan but because GCC states' citizens have higher income than Jordanians and can afford higher prices than Jordanians," said Abbassi.
"In fact, some services in Jordan in the mobile and the broadband field are cheaper than those in the GCC," said Abbassi.
According to a recent report by the Arab Advisors Group, Jordan ranked second in the list of most competitive cellular markets in the Arab world and Jordan has also the lowest WiMAX rates among Arab sates.
In terms of purchasing power parity, the ITU's report said Jordan fares well when it comes to prices of fixed-broadband and mobile-cellular services.
"The country [Jordan] has a highly competitive and developed telecommunication sector, in particular in the mobile-cellular market," the report indicated.
Growing competition in the deployment of Third Generation (3G) and WiMAX services is also putting more pressure on operators to offer competitive prices and "Jordan is often cited as one of the most competitive markets in the region, read the report".
The ITU's report also showed that the ICT sector has become a major contributor to economic growth.
Global revenues from telecommunication services reached $1.5 trillion in 2010, taking up 2.4 per cent of the world's gross domestic product. By the end of 2011, there were six billion mobile subscriptions globally and a total of 2.3 billion people were using the Internet, according to the report.
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Quelle/Source: Zawya, 31.10.2012
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