ICT sector
grows to $436 million

Software market up 18 percent

The information and communication technology (ICT) market is expected to grow to $436.2 million in 2016, up 14 percent compared with 2014, according to a recent report published by the Investment Development Authority of Lebanon.

The report, ‘Investment Opportunities in the ICT Sector-2016’, shows that hardware sales are estimated to have grown 12 percent to $262 million during the period 2014-2016. Hardware sales account for 60 percent of the ICT market, down from 62 percent in 2014.

ICT services are estimated to have grown 20 percent to $134 million. Their market share is likely to have increased to 31 percent from 29 percent over the same period. The software development sub-sector is expected to grow 18 percent to $40 million. Its market share is stable at nine percent.

“The ICT services and software development sectors have grown significantly higher than hardware sales over the two-year period because they mainly target the global market and are not limited to the local market like hardware sales,” said Gabriel Deek, Chairman of the Internet Society, Lebanon Chapter.

More than 60 percent of software companies overall are export oriented. When broken down by sub-sectors, export orientation is 76 percent at the level of software development companies, 67 percent at the level of web development companies, and 66 percent at the level of mobile application development companies.

The number of companies involved in the creation of software products and services accounted for 30 percent of the total in 2014. This percentage has grown to 40 percent. The remaining 60 percent are distributors and resellers.

The Investment Development Authority of Lebanon said in the report: “The market is increasingly evolving into innovation and content generation.”

Nearly 800 companies operate in the ICT sector. Most of them are small and medium enterprises (SMEs).