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Universal Access PREPARATORY MEETING OF THE ARAB REGION FOR THE WORLD TELECOMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE Alexandria (Egypt) 17-19 October 2000 Slide 2 Universal access to communications is the main reason why we are all here Slide 3 What is Universal Access? Universal Service Telephone in most homes Universal Access Telephone within reasonable distance for everyone Slide 4 Universal Service Households with a telephone (%), 1999 Gulf except KSA and Oman KSA Lebanon Syria-Oman-Jordan Maghreb Yemen LDCs Arab Region Slide 5 Measuring Universal Access Total density Towns with telephone service Payphones Per inhabitant As % of main lines Mobile coverage Distance from a telephone Time from a telephone 0% 2% 3% 4% 5% Jordan-Djibouti-Qatar Oman-KSA- Sudan-Bahrain UAE Morocco Tunisia Mauritania Algeria Syria Egypt - Kuwait 1% Payphones as % of total fixed lines Slide 6 Network growth 0.8 difference Fixed and mobile telephone subscribers per 100 inhabitants 3.2 difference Slide 7 New telephone subscribers added World, millions Arab region, millions More mobile countries: Cambodia (93); Finland (98); Uganda, Ivory Coast, Portugal, Venezuela, Paraguay, S. Korea, Italy, Austria, Israel, Botswana (99); Japan, Hongkong, Singapore, South Africa, Philippines, Ireland(2000) Since 96 more mobiles added Slide 8 Morocco becomes the first Mobile subscribers in Morocco, 000s Mobile passes fixed High mobile coverage + pre-paid card = Universal Access? Slide 9 Telephone density Fixed and mobile telephones per 100 inhabitants, 1999 Sep 2000 Slide 10 Digital divide in the Arab region Internet users as % of population 17% All developing countries Slide 11 Financing access Slide 12 Accounting rates Source: FCC. Average accounting rate with US, per minute, US$ Slide 13 Telecom revenue US$ 13.1 billion 1999 1.6% of world total World Distribution of telecom revenue 1999 Arab region Slide 14 Future work Definition and measurement of universal access Universal access / service policies Universal access / service funding Setting targets for region