The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a United Nations agency, recently released its statistics covering the telecommunications sector in 233 countries worldwide. Those statistics are released by the ITU on an annual basis as part of the global statistical system of the UN. The report showed that Lebanon registered an improvement in ICT indicators in 2010.

Lebanon ranked 10th out of 17 Middle East and North African (MENA) countries and 100th globally in terms of internet penetration in 2010, measured by the percentage of internet users in the country. The ITU indicated that the internet penetration rate in Lebanon reached 31.00%, up from 23.68% in the previous year, compared to the MENA average penetration rate of 27.28% and to the global penetration rate of 30.16%. Still, the internet penetration rate in Lebanon in 2010 is relatively low compared to the highest internet penetration rates in the region, which were found in the UAE (78.00%) and Qatar (69.00%), meaning there is growth potential for internet use in the country. Lebanon ranked ahead of Egypt (26.74%) and Syria (20.70%).

The aggregate number of internet users in Lebanon reached 1.3 million in 2010, up from 1 million in 2009. The total number of internet users in the MENA region reached 80.6 million, with countries such as Egypt that counts 21.7 million users and Morocco that counts 15.7 million users.

Lebanon came in 12th place out of the 17 countries surveyed in terms of number of users, ahead of Qatar and Kuwait in terms of total internet users.

Furthermore, Lebanon came in the 14th position in the MENA region and in the 144th place globally according to the percentage of mobile cellular subscriptions out of the total population. Mobile cellular subscriptions reached 68.00 per 100 inhabitants in Lebanon in 2010, rising from 56.95 in 2009. This figure remains lower than the global average of 77.73 per 100 inhabitants, and the relatively high regional average of 90.49. In fact, the latter is driven by particularly high figures in Gulf countries. Mobile subscriptions amounted to 2,874,800 in Lebanon in 2010, as compared to a regional average of 18,044,700 per country and a global average of 22,991,085 per country.

Finally, Lebanon's fixed telephone lines reached 887,800 in 2010. In terms of fixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitants, Lebanon ranked 1st out of 17 MENA countries and 97th out of 233 countries globally. The number of fixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitants reached 21.00 in Lebanon in 2010. This level compares to a regional average of 9.19 and a global average of 16.83. Lebanon was followed by Kuwait, Syria and the UAE in terms of telephone lines per 100 inhabitants.

This article has been published as a part of Bank Audi's "Lebanon Weekly Monitor" for week 29 of 2011. For more information visit: www.banqueaudi.com.