ICT QATAR is working with telecommunications
operators and others to accomplish faster, more secure networks,
ramping up connectivity, and ultimately boosting overall ICT access and usage
among households and individuals, businesses, government agencies, and other
important sectors in Qatar.
The report Qatar’s ICT Landscape 2013:Households and Individuals, published by ICT Qatar recently, highlights many encouraging developments in
the country’s ongoing quest to build a competitive knowledge-based economy that
will benefit all its people. From climbing mobile, Internet, broadband, mobile
broadband, smartphone, and tablet computer penetration rates and the rise of
multiple device ownership to citizens’ increasingly sophisticated everyday
online habits and the country’s highly connected youth population, it’s clear
that technology is an increasingly integral part of life for people in Qatar.
Looking at the most recent data from
2012, several clear trends emerge: People in Qatar Are More Connected Than Ever
Before. Today, on average, a household in Qatar owns three mobile phones, two
computers, and one smartphone, and people are using these technologies to
access the Internet in ever-greater numbers. In fact, between 2008 and 2012,
computer penetration among individuals more than doubled, while Internet use
soared to 69.3 percent, up from 38 percent, over the same four-year period. The
progress is even more impressive among mainstream individuals, with a rise in
computer penetration to 89 percent and continued growth across all other basic
ICT infrastructure areas, including mobile phones, now at a near-universal 99.5
percent. Internet penetration for this group also increased significantly to 88
percent—a rate that is among the best in the Arab region, on par with ICT-advanced
countries like South Korea and the UK, and just a step behind leaders such as Norway
and Sweden, which have 93 percent and 90 percent Internet penetration,
respectively.
