Kuwait - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Executive summary

Government support is integral to Kuwait’s telecom industry progress

Developments over the past year or so in Kuwait has demonstrated how a supportive government can pave the way for telecoms progress. The Kuwait government is making great headway in implementing changes which will improve the overall telecoms industry. One example includes the recent establishment of an independent telecoms regulator (CITRA) and the current project underway by the Ministry of Communications (MoC) which is expanding Kuwait’s fibre broadband infrastructure.

Kuwait has one of the highest mobile penetration rates in the world and while this has led to market saturation; the operators are combating this by building extensive LTE networks and developing mobile broadband content and services. The existence of this substantial mobile infrastructure also places Kuwait in good stead to take advantage of opportunities offered by the evolution to 5G.

While Kuwait’s fixed broadband penetration is currently one of the lowest in the region – this sector offers a potential future growth opportunity for both the operators and government. Improvements to the fixed broadband infrastructure will assist to grow markets such as e-commerce, along with smart infrastructure development, start-ups and M2M.

Overall the telecoms sector has become increasingly important to Kuwait’s economy as the country looks to diversify from its reliance on oil. While it already offers a mature mobile sector – opportunities exist to improve its lagging fixed broadband infrastructure as well as capitalise on growing the mobile broadband services and content sector.

This BuddeComm report analyses Kuwait’s extensive telecoms market and provides key industry statistics as well as information and insights relating to fixed and mobile infrastructure, subscribers, smart infrastructure, regulations and major players. It also includes BuddeComm’s Telecoms Maturity Index which measures and ranks the maturity of Kuwait’s telecoms industry within the Middle East on a scale of 1 to 100.

Key developments:

The three major operators of Zain Kuwait, VIVA and Ooredoo are all offering LTE services as well as exploring 5G opportunities.
Zain Kuwait launched initial integrated 5G services to selected areas in 2018.
There is a high ownership of smart phones in Kuwait.
Improvements to fibre-broadband infrastructure are underway in 2018.

Companies covered in this report include:

Mobile Telecommunications Co (MTC) / Zain, Ooredoo Kuwait, Kuwait Telecom Company (KTC) / Viva.

1. Executive summary
2. Key statistics
3. Country overview
4. Telecommunications market
- 4.1 Overview
- 4.2 Market analysis
- 4.3 Recent developments
- 4.4 Regional Middle East market comparison
5. Regulatory environment
- 5.1 Historic overview
- 5.2 Regulatory authority
- 5.3 Privatisation
- 5.4 Infrastructure sharing
- 5.5 Interconnect
6. Fixed network operators
- 6.1 Ministry of Communications
7. Telecommunications infrastructure
- 7.1 Overview of the national telecom network
- 7.2 Fibre networks
- 7.3 International infrastructure (satellite, submarine)
  - 7.3.1 Submarine cable networks
  - 7.3.2 Satellite communication
- 7.4 Smart infrastructure
  - 7.4.1 IoT
  - 7.4.2 Smart grids
8. Fixed broadband Market
- 8.1 Introduction and statistical overview
  - 8.1.1 Market analysis
  - 8.1.2 Broadband statistics
9. Digital economy (Examples only)
- 9.1 e-Commerce
- 9.2 Start-ups
- 9.3 e-Banking/e-Payments
- 9.4 e-Health
10. 8. Digital Media (Examples only)
- 10.1 Video-streaming
- 10.2 Music-streaming
- 10.3 VoIP
11. Mobile Market
- 11.1 Market analysis
- 11.2 Mobile statistics
  - 11.2.1 General statistics
  - 11.2.2 Mobile broadband
  - 11.2.3 Forecasts – mobile subscribers – 2019; 2021; 2023
- 11.3 Mobile infrastructure
  - 11.3.1 5G
  - 11.3.2 4G (LTE)
  - 11.3.3 GSM, 3G
  - 11.3.4 Other infrastructure developments
  - 11.3.5 Mobile voice/VoLTE
- 11.4 Mobile regulatory issues
  - 11.4.1 Third mobile operator
  - 11.4.2 Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
  - 11.4.3 Roaming tariff reduction
  - 11.4.4 Spectrum refarming for LTE
  - 11.4.5 Mobile tower management
- 11.5 Major mobile operators
  - 11.5.1 Zain Kuwait
  - 11.5.2 Ooredoo Kuwait
  - 11.5.3 Viva
- 11.6 Mobile content and applications
  - 11.6.1 m-banking (payments/loans)
  - 11.6.2 OTT messaging services
- 11.7 Mobile handsets
12. Related reports

Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities – Kuwait – 2018
Table 2 – Kuwait – GDP and inflation – 2012 - 2019
Table 3 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity - 1995 - 2018
Table 4 – Internet users and penetration – 1995 - 2018
Table 5 – Fixed broadband subscribers and penetration - 2006 - 2018
Table 6 – Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate - 1995 - 2004
Table 7 – Mobile subscribers and penetration – 2005 - 2018
Table 8 – Mobile operators’ market share – 2005 – 2017
Table 9 – Mobile operators, subscribers and annual change – 2017
Table 10 - Kuwait - active mobile broadband subscriptions – 2015 – 2018
Table 11 – Mobile subscribers – 2019; 2021; 2023
Table 12 – Examples of countries leading regional 5G developments
Table 13 - Zain Group subscribers and revenue – 2005 – Q1 2018
Table 14 – Zain Kuwait revenue, net profit, ARPU and subscribers – 2005 – Q1 2018
Table 15 – Zain – prepaid share – 2005 – Q1 2018
Table 16 – Ooredoo Kuwait financial data and subscribers – 2016; Q1 2018
Table 17 - Viva revenue, net profit, EBITDA, and subscribers – 2012 – Q1 2018

Chart 1 – Kuwait’s major mobile operators – market share - 2017
Chart 2 – Middle East - Telecoms Maturity Index (TMI) - 2017
Chart 3 – Middle East - Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per Capita - 2017
Chart 4 – Middle East – fixed broadband penetration versus mobile broadband penetration – 2017

Exhibit 1 – Kuwait Projects Company (KIPCO)
Exhibit 2 – Middle East - Key characteristics of telecoms markets by country

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Licence Information

Focus Report Profile

Technologies

Broadband Fixed
Broadcasting
Companies (Major Players)
Internet
Mobile & Wireless Broadband and Media
Mobile Communications (voice and infrastructure)
Regulations & Government Policies
Strategies & Analyses (Industry & Markets)
Telecoms Infrastructure

Number of pages 40

Status Current

Last updated 25 Jun 2018
Update History

Analyst: Kylie Wansink

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Paul, May I congratulate you on a very successful and enjoyable afternoon with the Minister. In providing the roundtable discussions between government and industry, it highlighted the strong interest by stakeholders in Broadband and its implementation but it also presented us with other issues and opportunities that we need to address.

Dominic Schipano, CITT

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