Original telecommunications market research and telecommunications sector trend analysis for the national telecommunications industry.

Competitive intelligence, regional telecommunications company rankings and SWOT analyses on international and domestic telecommunications companies.

The Report provides industry professionals and researchers, operators, equipment suppliers and vendors, corporate and financial services analysts and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on the national telecommunications industry.

" The Asia Telecommunications Report is used for benchmarking industry views against BMI's independent forecasts; for market research and analysis of industry trends. It also provides competitive intelligence on leading companies. "
Chi-Wen Tsai, Managing Director, ROHDE & SCHWARZ Taiwan Ltd

Key Benefits of Report

-Benchmark BMI's Independent 5-Year Telecommunications Industry Forecast to test other views - a key input for successful budgeting and strategic business planning in the national telecommunications market.
-Target Business Opportunities & Risks in the Telecommunications Sector through our reviews of latest industry trends, regulatory changes, and major deals, projects and investments.
-Exploit Latest Competitive Telecommunications Intelligence & company SWOTS on your competitors and peers through company rankings by sales, market share, investments and leading products and services.

Executive Summary
Summary of BMI's key industry forecasts and trend analysis, covering ICT, fixed-line, mobile and internet markets, and headline news of key industry events from the latest quarter.

Market Overview
At-a-glance outlook of the structure, size and value of the industry, including an overview of key players and a snapshot of regional penetration rates for fixed-line, mobile and internet markets.

Business Environment Rankings
BMI provides a cross-border analysis of telecoms regulatory systems across regional markets, and their investor prospects, discussing the merits and downfalls of each country's business environment, and ranking them in order of competitiveness. The rankings take into account industry factors, such as Market Maturity, Growth Potential, Competitive Environment and Licensing Framework in addition to BMI's political and economic risk ratings.

BMI 5-Year Industry Forecast
Historic data series and 5-year forecasts to end-2012 for all key industry indicators (see list below), supported by explicit assumptions, plus analysis of key downside risks to the main forecast.

Fixed-Line Telephony - Telephone Lines ('000); Telephone Lines/100 Inhabitants;
Cellular Telephony - Phone Subscribers ('000); Mobile Phone Subscribers/ 100 Inhabitants; Mobile Phone Subscribers/100 Fixed Line Subscribers;
Internet Markets - Internet Users ('000); Internet Users/100 Inhabitants; Broadband Internet Subscribers ('000); Broadband Internet Subscribers/100 Inhabitants;
Multimedia Markets - PCs ('000); PCs/100 Inhabitants; TV households ('000s); Pay-TV subscribers ('000s); Pay-TV subscribers/100 inhabitants; Cable TV subscribers ('000s); Direct-to-Home Subscribers ('000s)
BMI 5-Year Macroeconomic Forecast
BMI forecasts for all headline macroeconomic indicators, including real GDP growth, inflation, fiscal balance, trade balance, current account and external debt.

Competitive Landscape & Rankings
Commentary on key operators highlighting ownership structures, latest available revenue figures, market share analysis and ARPU counts.

Company Profiles & SWOTS
Company profiles, including SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analyses, fully researched senior executives and contact details, business activity, leading products and services, and a record of all recent foreign direct investments and projects.

The Sector At A Glance

Key Insights On The Telecomunications sector of Kuwait

The biggest developments to occur in the immediate future of Kuwait's telecoms industry will centre around its 3G market, as growth across the mobile market continues to struggle, with penetration rates already in excess of 100%. The country's worst performing quarter so far this year was Q306, with just 33,000 net additions over the three months. This came on the back of 124,000 net additions in Q206 and 154,000 net additions in Q106. Despite this, BMI is optimistic that a further 133,000 net additions will be possible in Q406, given that the first and last quarters of the year are traditionally stronger. Furthermore, our estimates of 133,000 additional users, bringing the total to 2.7mn users as of YE06, are in line with previous quarterly growth, all with the exception of Q306. We therefore retain our existing forecasts.

So what are the operators doing to grow business and their revenues? Wataniya has been more active in the NGN sector than market leader MTC. The operator has sought to deploy and expand an HSDPA network, with the help of Nokia, as its rival remains distracted by developments in its overseas units. Indeed, over the three months ended September 2006, MTC's market share fell from 60.5% to 59.7%, as it reported a 2,000 subscriber net loss over the period. While the operator did not provide a reason for the fall in its customer base in its Q306 earnings release statement, BMI believes that this was a reflection of its diverted attentions. Indeed, the overall tenure of the comments made in its earnings release by its management relate to enhancing its geographic footprint, while its international arm, MTCI, announced it would be seeking to list on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in 2007, in order to raise cash for its international plans. Having said that, Wataniya is also beginning to focus on its external plans, with its Kuwaiti operations contributing less and less to its overall subscriber base. According to BMI calculations, Q305 saw Wataniya's Kuwait operations account for 17.8% of total subscriber figures, falling to 11.6% of its entire subscriber base a year later.

However, with the prospect of a third mobile operator entering in 2007, both operators would do well to concentrate on their 3G developments. While this may already be the case for Wataniya, MTC has not been forthcoming. It was hoped that the operator would announce some type of development in this respect, with expectations that by YE06, it would begin offering 3G services. Yet, it does not appear to be in a rush to launch. This may be, as highlighted by Dr Marwan Al Amadi, chief strategy officer of its sister company MTC-Vodafone Bahrain, because the key to the success of 3G in Bahrain and the rest of the region lies in service affordability, handset availability and correct market segmentation. These factors the company may deem are still not present in the Kuwaiti mobile market.