DUBAI, UAE, July 14 /PRNewswire/ --     Delta Partners, the leading management advisory and investment
firm, has released its latest white paper, "Mobile Broadband in MEA: Promises
opportunity but not a smooth ride", assessing the potential and risks for
Middle East and African mobile operators to develop their data offer.

The Middle East and Africa region has been the world's fastest
growing region in terms of mobile penetration growth in the recent past,
whilst fixed penetration has stagnated at 20% and 4% levels in the Middle
East and Africa respectively.

This lack of fixed infrastructure coupled with high costs of
service provisioning has severely hampered the development of broadband,
particularly in Africa. Owing to coverage restrictions and lack of bandwidth,
large parts of the region still witness connectivity delivered via
satellites.

Going forward, two key developments are expected to change the
existing landscape. Firstly, the arrival of improved international
connectivity via new submarine cables will enhance bandwidth and lower
prices. Secondly, mobile operators aggressively developing their 3G networks
to go beyond their core voice offerings will result in enhanced availability
of high speed networks. Broadband is increasingly seen as the growth driver
for mobile operators and the mechanism towards creating the stickiness factor
particularly for retaining high value customers.

"We believe that nearly 70% of the broadband subscribers in
MEA will in fact be delivered over wireless networks by 2011 up from about
38% today," says Joao Sousa, Partner at Delta Partners.

"This will translate into a significant growth potential for
mobile broadband in MEA, with subscribers expected to grow from 2.5m today to
about 40m in 2011. At a strong ARPU of $10-15 this will represent a market
worth around $6 billion in 2011 vs. $1 billion today," he adds.

However, key risks exist especially due to high CAPEX
investments required. This is particularly true for late entrants who
struggle to capture minimum scale in order to recover their investments. To
be able to drive success, the late entrant broadband player would need to
adopt a clear set of initiatives.

"There are a few success factors operators should consider,
such as gaining access to international connectivity at competitive prices,
an efficient network operation and developing an effective go-to-market
approach," says Sosa.

"Operators can invest in undersea cable projects to ensure
competitiveness, make informed urban/rural rollout decisions and even
consider 3G network sharing in some regions. Setting up a dedicated customer
care channel and targeted value proposition can also go a long way in
ensuring customer development and retention. This is especially important as
high value customers in MEA tend to constitute only 10-20% of the subscribers
but 50-60% of the revenues," he further adds.

Notes to Editors

Delta Partners is the leading management advisory and investment firm
specialized in Telecoms, Media and Technology (TMT) in emerging markets. It
has more than 130 professionals operating across 50 markets in the Middle
East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Emerging Asia. From its offices in the UAE,
Bahrain and South Africa, Delta Partners provides services through its three
highly synergistic business lines: management advisory, private equity and
corporate finance.

Delta Partners delivers tangible results to its clients and investors
through an exclusive sector focus, and a unique approach to services,
combining strategic advice and a hands-on pragmatic approach.

For further information please contact: Mia Mutic, Marketing Manager,
Delta Partners. Tel: +971-4-369-2999 and mmu@deltapartnersgroup.com or visit
http://www.deltapartnersgroup.com