Survey reveals less than half of Jordanians use mobile phones

By Paul Tate

AMMAN — Far fewer Jordanians use mobile phones than previously estimated, according to a recent Arab Advisors Group survey.

The study, conducted by the Amman-based research and consultancy company, reveals that less than half the population use cellular phones.

“Multiple line use by the same individuals and the presence of expatriates outside official population figures, set Jordan’s Effective Mobile Penetration Rate at around 48 per cent,” the survey says.

This figure is 26 percentage points lower than the 74.2 per cent penetration rate given by mobile operators at the end of 2006, based on the number of lines (4.15 million) divided by the population.

The Arab Advisors’ survey employs what the company describes as the “Effective Mobile Penetration” measure in order to gain a “more accurate analysis of cellular markets”.

According to Jawad Abbasi, the company’s founder and general manager, the survey takes into account the growing trend of individuals owning multiple lines and estimates the population, including expatriates and migrant workers, to be half a million more than official statistics.

“The Effective Mobile Penetration Rate considers the percentage of individuals with one or more mobile lines and is calculated by dividing the number of the estimated individual mobile users [and not mobile lines] by the estimated actual population figure [including expatriates and migrant workers],” he said in a press statement.

“Based on the survey findings, the ratio of the number of lines to the number of mobile users is 1:4. Applying this ratio to the reported total number of mobile lines, the actual number of individual mobile subscribers in Jordan was estimated at 2.9 million subscribers by end of 2006,” he added.

The survey says the trend of having more than one line is mainly driven by the desire of individuals to capitalise on the different plans, offers and promotions of the operators. A total of 28.5 per cent of cellular users have two lines while 5.7 per cent have three lines.

Just over 58 per cent of respondents who have more than one mobile line state cost saving as the reason.

“On the individual level most respondents own one mobile line: 63.5 per cent of respondents own a single line while 36.5 per cent of respondents own more than one mobile line,” the survey finds.

The Jordan Cellular Users Survey 2007 was conducted through interviews with 509 respondents from different households in Amman, Irbid and Zarqa. The survey has an error margin of less than 6 per cent.