Mobile penetration climbs to 147%

AMMAN — Mobile penetration in Jordan reached 147 per cent at the end of the third quarter of this year, increasing by 1 per cent from the end of June, according to Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) figures.  

According to figures released this week, there were 11 million active mobile subscriptions at the end of September, compared with 10.691 million subscriptions at the end of June. 

Internet penetration in the Kingdom also rose by 1 per cent to 74 per cent at the end of September, compared to 73 per cent at the end of the second quarter of this year.

The overall number of Internet users in the country stood at 5.6 million at the end of September, the TRC report showed. 

Internet subscriptions at the end of the third quarter amounted to 1.646 million, or 22 per cent. 

In 2006, Internet penetration stood at 13.7 per cent and subscriptions at 3.7 per cent.

Mobile broadband subscribers constituted 1.3 million of the total Internet subscribers in the first three quarters of this year, followed by ADSL (211,000) and Wi-Max (125,481).

Meanwhile, fixed telephony subscriptions stood at 377,269 by the end of September, continuing a downward trend from 401,000 in 2012, 424,000 in 2011, 485,000 in 2010, 501,000 in 2009 and 614,000 in 2006.

Landline subscriptions as a percentage of the population reached 5.1 per cent by the end of September this year, compared with 8 per cent in 2010 and 11 per cent in 2006, according to the figures posted on the TRC website.