Pre-pay rates are highest in the Middle East

The lack of competition in the Lebanese wireless market has had the knock-on effect of ensuring that the country has the highest pre-paid mobile tariffs in the Middle East, according to a study by the Arab Advisors Group. The report found that state-owned-privately-run duopoly cellcos Cellis (which operates under the brand name Alfa) and MTC Touch offer an average pre-paid rate of USD0.44 per minute, the highest of all 18 countries surveyed. However, the blame cannot be put solely on the lack of competition in the market – the monopoly wireless sector in the UAE reported the lowest prices, at USD0.6 per minute.