Lebanon - average grade

Lebanon earns average grade in telecom index

BEIRUT: The United Nations' Telecommunications Infrastructure Index for 2008 ranked Lebanon in 76th place among 192 countries worldwide and 7th among 19 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. Lebanon ranked 62nd globally and in 7th place regionally in the previous survey, which was conducted in 2005. Also, Lebanon ranked in 25th place among 36 upper middle-income countries in 2008 and in 18th place in the previous survey.

The index includes five key variables reflecting a country's telecommunications infrastructure capacity. It is a composite measure of the penetration of personal computers, land lines, Internet usage, online population and mobile subscriptions.

Globally, Lebanon ranked ahead of Venezuela, and Bosnia & Herzegovina, and came behind Mexico and Maldives. It ranked immediately ahead of Venezuela and behind Mexico among upper middle income countries. Regionally, it ranked ahead of Iran, Jordan, Tunisia, Oman, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Syria, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen and Iraq, but behind Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Israel. Lebanon received a score of 0.193 points, below the global average of 0.211 points, the MENA average of 0.1941 points, and the upper middle income average of 0.2483 points, but above the Arab average of 0.1708 points.

Lebanon ranked in 56th place globally, 14th among upper-middle income countries and fifth in the MENA region on the Internet Usage Sub-Index. This category measures Internet penetration, with Lebanon having 26.28 Internet users per 100 inhabitants compared to the Arab average of 14.23. Globally, Lebanon ranked ahead of Chile and Bulgaria and came behind Poland and Costa Rica. It ranked ahead of Chile and behind Costa Rica among upper-middle income countries, and ranked ahead of Iran and behind Israel in the region. Lebanon received a score of 0.296 points, above the global average of 0.223 points and the upper-middle income countries average of 0.261 points, and above MENA and Arab averages of 0.188 points and 0.174 points, respectively.

Lebanon ranked in 69th place globally, 23rd among upper-middle-income countries, and seventh in the MENA region on the Personal Computers Sub-Index. This category reflects PC penetration, with Lebanon having 11.45 personal computers per 100 inhabitants compared to the Arab average of 7.88 users per 100 inhabitants. Globally, Lebanon ranked ahead of Peru and Armenia and came behind Cape Verde and Russia. It ranked ahead of Trinidad & Tobago and behind Russia among upper-middle income nations. Regionally, Lebanon tied with Sudan, came ahead of Iran and behind Saudi Arabia. Lebanon received a score of 0.127 points on the PC Penetration Sub-Index, below the global average of 0.173 points, the upper-middle income countries average of 0.156 points and the MENA average of 0.137 points, but above the Arab average of 0.098 points.