A report says that the top three spots as the highest adopters of telecommunication services are dominated by UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

According to a new report released by Arab Advisors Group, the UAE is the most-connected country in the Arab World. The Arab Advisors Group gives reliable research, analysis and forecasts of Arab communications, media and technology markets.

The annual results of Total Country Connectivity Measure (TCCM), as calculated by Arab Advisors, disclosed that Bahrain and Saudi Arabia rank second and third respectively in terms of connectivity.

It is by adding the household mainlines penetration cellular penetration, and Internet user's penetration rates in each country that the Arab Advisors calculate its TCCM. "The household mainlines penetration is measured by dividing the residential mainlines by the number of households in each country. The TCCM shows the extent of connectivity of individuals in a certain country whether via fixed lines, cellular lines and/or Internet," said a source.

Andrawes Snobar, Arab Advisors' research manager said in the report, "Only four out of the nineteen countries covered in this year's study have a total country connectivity measure that exceeds a 200 per cent."

"This indicates a substantial potential for more growth in most Arab markets, especially in the under penetrated Internet markets."

The results for the rest of the Arab World came as follows: Qatar (205 per cent), Libya (199 per cent), Kuwait (184 per cent), Oman (170 per cent), Algeria (141 per cent), Jordan (141 per cent), Syria (129 per cent), Egypt (128 per cent), Tunisia (128 per cent), Morocco (127 per cent), Lebanon (125 per cent), Iraq (100 per cent), Palestine (95 per cent), Mauritania (74 per cent), Yemen (55 per cent) and Sudan (34 per cent).

It has also been put forward by the report that there were prominent, mostly cellular service-driven, improvements in overall scores. A very healthy growth was registered by the Arab broadband Internet markets.