About 89.8 per cent of GSM subscribers in Lebanon use SMS and among the young the number is close to 96 per cent says a study.

The Arab Advisors Group (AAG) survey found that 12.8 per cent of Lebanon’s GSM users share their phone lines with other members of their families. This indicates pent-up demand for cellular services in Lebanon, it said.

“This bodes well for the country’s mobile penetration which is below regional levels,” the survey said.

The survey report, Lebanon Cellular Users Survey December 2007, provides an insight into the cellular usage patterns and habits of the population in Lebanon.

The survey fieldwork was conducted in November and December 2007.

 “This face to face survey revealed that 37.8 per cent of Lebanon’s urban cellular users do not use the Internet. This underlines the fact that the only way to reliably cover the cellular markets is through face to face surveys. Online surveys are suitable for analysing Internet users and usage habits but remain inherently biased and non-indicative for more mainstream markets such as cellular markets,” Jawad Abbassi, founder and general manager of AAG said.

Lebanon’s GSM market is peculiar in that the two GSM networks are government owned but are managed by private companies. The Lebanese government has initiated a process to sell the two networks in the first quarter of 2008. 

The report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for $2,750 for subscribers to Arab Advisors Strategic Research Services. Non-subscribers can order the report for $3,750. – TradeArabia News Service