IPTV services now available in ten Arab nations

IPTV services now available in ten Arab nations

   Rebecca Hawkes
   | 05 July 2016




IPTV options are now offered by 14 service providers in ten countries in the Arab World, with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries boasting the most in the region.

ArabAdvisorsGroup logoTelecommunications companies in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are now providing IPTV services according to the latest report from the Arab Advisors Group.

Ongoing or planned projects are also reported in seven other countries in the region, with the installation of optical fibre to upgrade legacy networks paving the way for IPTV services. These countries are Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania and Tunisia, said the Jordan-based research group.

Subscription-based video-on-demand (SVOD) services are also provided for viewers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) by Starz Play, icflix, Istikana and Netflix. These offer a mix of international and local programming.

“By May 2016, there were 14 service providers in ten countries in the Arab World offering commercial IPTV services. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE had the largest number of IPTV providers with two providers each,” said Hiba Al Atiyat, senior research analyst, Arab Advisors Group.

“As broadband Internet expands in the Arab world, IPTV adoption is increasing. The competition among IPTV service providers within the same country drives its offered features into frequent upgrades, which makes the user's TV viewing experience more interactive,” she added.