An investigation of the challenges facing the mobile telecommunications industry in United Arab Emirates form the young consumers' perspective

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has one of the highest mobile penetration rates in the world. Nevertheless, recent reports on the performance of mobile companies revealed a decline in revenues obtained by the two main mobile operators in UAE (Etisalat and du). Building on the findings of previous studies which investigated the mobile regulatory frameworks in the Arab region in general and the UAE and their effects on consumers' use of mobile phones, the main aim of this research was to investigate the issues and challenges facing the use of mobile phones from the young consumers' perspective. Data were collected from 533 young Arabs aged (18-29) years old in Dubai via multi-stage cluster sampling using questionnaires which were distributed face-to-face and analysed using descriptive statistics. The findings of this research revealed that the participants think that high prices of mobile handsets, high prices of mobile tariffs and high prices of mobile Internet, market monopoly, restrictions on some mobile services, ethical issues and cultural issues are major challenges affecting their use of mobile phones. The research has several implications for policymakers and mobile companies in UAE.