mobile internet penetration across MENA nations

Mobile internet adoption in MENA continues to grow and proliferate rapidly.The number of mobile internet subscribers in middle east and north Africa surpassed 200 million (which was 36% of the population) by mid-2016, with an additional 87 million expected by 2020. 

However, in developing countries in the region, such as some of the African Arab States, more than two thirds of the population on average do not use the mobile internet. 

However according to  latest data from GSMA ,by 2020, more than half of the population in countries such as Somalia and Djibouti will remain offline. Meanwhile mobile internet Subscribers in MENA are increasingly migrating to mobile broadband services, with mobile playing a crucial role in providing Internet access given the general lack of fixed broadband infrastructure in the region. By the middle of 2016, mobile broadband (3G and above) accounted for more than 40% of connections, up from just under 30% in 2014. While this is below the global average of 51%, it once again hides variation across the region. 

In Israel and Kuwait, for example, mobile broadband connections accounted for 88% and 84% of total connections in Q2 2016 respectively, and will account for over 95% by 2020. At the other end of the scale, only 4% of connections in Somalia were mobile broadband in Q2 2016, and Comoros and Palestine have yet to launch 3G networks