According to “Lebanon this week” of Byblos Bank, the 2007 index of the competition’s intensity in mobile phones’ domain classifies Lebanon in the 15th place among the 19 Arab countries, with a score of 35, 1% (much lower than the regional average of 51, 1%). Jordan is the predominant country with a score of 78, 1%. The Hashemite Kingdom has four operators and owns the highest number of licenses in the Arab world. And for the second consecutive year, the Jordanian mobile market was considered as the most competitive. As for Qatar, it owns only one operator and it came in the last position with a score of 26, 1%.

The Cedars’ Land lost eleven places compared to its position last year. This competition index, elaborated by Arab Advisors Group, takes into consideration eight categories, measured according to their importance as indicators of competitive practices (among those eight categories: operators’ number, market’s parts, available packages, offered services in the region’s economies…). This index marks the correlation between the operators’ number and the competition’s level in the markets. Lebanon’s score is affected by the fact that the two mobile phone operators are in the government’s hands, and that the whole sector is under his control. This public duopoly configuration includes also Libya. After all, Lebanon is ahead of Syria, Libya, Oman, and Qatar.