If you think you're paying too much for phone calls and internet access, it may be worth checking out a report released yesterday. It gives a perspective and context on the cost of telecom services across the Arab world, when compared to average OECD prices. <br/><br/>The bottom line is basically what you would expect - people in the Middle East are paying a lot for internet access and way too much for international calls, while the relative cost of mobile services is decreasing. <br/><br/>Some thoughts on all of this, after the jump:<br/> <br/> This is all in line with the competitive environment - most countries in the region have increasingly competitive mobile markets, not many have truly competitive internet markets, and almost none have competition in the international gateway - a big factor in international calling and internet access. <br/> <br/> Anyhow, I'll look into all this more today, so watch this space. <a href="/assets/blogimages/406-AREGNET Price Benchmarking 2009 Final.pdf">In the meantime, you can check out a copy of the full report here. </a><br/><br/> It is good to see these kind of independent benchmarking reports getting released by the region's regulators - this one was commissioned by AREGNET, the association of Arab telecom regulators. My only quibble is with their method for gauging the cost of services - they translate prices into US dollars, and then divide the result by purchasing power (PPP) in each country. <br/> <br/> While that may be somewhat fair, accomodating for different costs and disposable incomes to make a general measure of affordability, it skews the results in favour of small, ultra wealthy Gulf states like Qatar and the UAE. <br/><br/>Both have crazily high average incomes - skewed massively by the top end of the economic pyramid - which means even though internet access in the UAE can cost almost $200 per month, the report says it is more affordable here than in Egypt, where it costs less than $50. <br/> <br/> It's basically a philosophical question of whether the cost of a mobile call or internet account should scale according to local incomes. It should, but probably more at the bottom than the top - if people are earning $2 a day, then it makes sense that they should expect mobile calls at one cent per minute. But Bill Gates shouldn't be paying $5000 per minute, no matter how awful Windows Mobile is.