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Broadband Service In The Gulf 'Inadequate' – Study
Published Oct 5, 2009
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Gulf countries do not have a high enough quality of broadband service to be able to meet the demands of today's applications, according to a new study.
The study, which was carried out by Oxford University's Said Business School and the University of Oviedo, found that quality of service was not adequate to manage modern applications for business and consumers alike, and that Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are a long way from being able to handle applications developed in the next three to five years.
The Broadband Quality Score (BQS) survey analyzed approximately 24 million records sourced from actual broadband speed tests from Speedtest.net (Ookla), with results from 66 countries from May to July of this year.
The study also looked at broadband services in relation to the country's stage of economic development, and the difference between services in rural and urban areas.
The BQS was established last year, under the sponsorship of Cisco, as an index that combines key performance parameters to measure the quality of a broadband connection.
The BQS includes upload and download speeds, latency and other factors such as network over subscription, packet loss and service continuity, to assess the quality of broadband service and assign a score.
The researchers set a threshold BQS of 30 to be able to handle today's applications such as file sharing, social networks and video streaming, while applications for the next three to five years such as HD video streaming, telepresence and visual networking would require a score of 50.
While the average BQS in the Middle East increased by 8.8 percent to 20.2, none of the Gulf countries surveyed met the 30 BQS threshold.
Qatar lead the region on 25, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia both rated 24 while the UAE was ranked 23. Egypt, which was also studied and is included in the Middle East average, was on 19.
On the rating of broadband leadership, which included the BQS and level of broadband penetration, Bahrain was the leader in the region with a score of 83, followed by the UAE on 70.
In the rankings of broadband leadership split by stage of economic development, the UAE ranked low among 'Innovation Economies', while Bahrain was among the leader's in 'Efficiency Economies'. Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt were similarly ranked as leaders in the 'Factor Economy' segment.
BQS in the Middle East outside of major cities was also judged to be below the necessary level for today's applications.
Only nine countries worldwide were judged to be ready for 'tomorrow's applications' with South Korea rating the highest.
Professor Mara Rosala Vicente, University of Oviedo, said: "The Broadband Quality Study shows us which countries have made real moves toward the Internet of the future".
Posted by
VMD - [Virtual Marketing Department]
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