Internet penetration in Jordan reached 55.9 per cent by the end of June with about 3.535 million users, according the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission ( TRC ).

New data posted on the TRC 's website on Thursday showed that the country's Internet subscription rate (the ratio of Internet subscriptions to the population) reached 12 per cent by the end of June, with 743,736 subscribers.

The majority of Internet subscribers in Jordan use mobile broadband, with 427,641 subscriptions by the end of June, followed by ADSL (204,395), WiMAX (96,923), dial-up (10,626) and cable (3,081), the figures showed.

The TRC also revealed that mobile penetration in the Kingdom had reached 132 per cent by the end of the first half of 2012, with about 8.340 million mobile subscriptions.

Jordan is one of 105 countries where the number of mobile subscriptions exceeded the population at the end of 2011, according to the International Telecommunication Union.

According to a Department of Statistics survey, some 98.1 per cent of Jordanian households have mobile phones.

The Kingdom was also recently ranked as the second most competitive mobile market in the Arab world in a study by the Arab Advisers Group released in July.

In a recent interview with The Jordan Times, Jawad Abbassi, founder and general manager of the Arab Advisers Group, said prices of mobile subscriptions in Jordan are "very competitive and among the lowest in the region", which encourages Jordanians to hold more than one SIM card.

The subscription rate is also high because telecom operators in the country provide extended validity for prepaid SIM cards, unlike other states, he said.

Abbassi added that a boom is expected in Internet subscriptions in Jordan driven by "competitive offers" by Internet service providers and because the number of holders of smartphones, which enable mobile Internet access, is on the rise.

Smartphone penetration in Jordan, which currently stands at about 45 per cent, is expected to reach 50 per cent by the end of 2012.

The TRC figures showed that fixed-line subscriptions stood at 6.6 per cent by the end of June, with about 416,512 subscribers.

Jordan Times

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