MENA is not just about the big markets, new countries are opening up – here are the ones to watch in 2026
Telemedia services in MENA are no longer just a story about Saudi, UAE, or Egypt. While it is easy to focus on these big markets, growth is coming from across the region with a second tier of markets quietly building the next wave of growth, underpinned by 4G/5G rollout, carrier billing, gaming and fintech.
Globally, such telemedia services are projected to grow from about $927.5 billon in 2024 to $2 trillion by 2030, according to data from Research and Markets. Within this, the Middle East and Africa mVAS segment is estimated at roughly U$35 billion today and growing at around 14% CAGR to the early 2030s. Layer that onto a MENA telecom service market expected to reach about $79 billion by 2030 and there is ample room for telemedia revenues to scale, especially in under-served mid-sized markets.
So, what are some of the hot ‘new’ MENA markets to look at in 2026 ahead of Telemedia Dubai next April?
Morocco: 5G + gaming + tourism
Morocco’s telecom market was valued at $3.64 bn in 2024 and is forecast to reach about US$4.59 bn by 2030 , a 3.9% CAGR, according to US treasury trade figures. Mobile penetration is high in the country at around 137.5% SIM penetration and smartphones at 80% of devices.
The three main MNOs – Maroc Telecom, Orange Maroc and Inwi – now all hold 5G licences in a deal worth $231 million and launched 5G commercially in November 2025.
Growth is coming from a number of interesting angles, not least the gaming and youth contentmarket. Morocco’s gaming market is already worth $500 million and the government aims to double it by 2030, supported by a $26 million “Rabat Gaming City” hub.
The country is also seeing a rapid digitalisation. “Digital Morocco 2030” and a post-Covid surge in online services have boosted local digital firms and demand for online content, advertising and ecommerce.
If carrier-billed content, games, OTT bundles and mobile wallets take a conservative 15% of mobile service revenue by 2030, that implies $0.7 billion in annual telemedia revenue in Morocco alone. This excludes off-portal advertising and pure OTT revenue, so the real digital content economy will be higher.
Algeria: 5G offers a big unlock
Algeria has just granted its three main operators – Mobilis, Djezzy and Ooredoo – 5G licences with full roll out expected within the next six years, so this is one of the key markets in MENA to watch going forward. But what does it look like today?
On the core connectivity side, the Algeria Telecom MNO market is projected to grow from about $2.68 billion in 2025 to roughly $2.94 billion by 2030 – a CAGR of some 1.9%, according to Mordor Intelligence.
The demand side looks stronger than that modest top-line suggests, however, with 54.8 million mobile connections at the start of 2025 (116% penetration); 36.2 million internet users (76.9% penetration); and 25.6 million social media user identities (54% of population). So, the pipes are there, and they’re busy.
Putting this together, if we assume that 12 to 15% of MNO revenues is consumer and B2B telemedia such as DCB content, streaming bundles, gaming, fintech, CPaaS and so on, that yields $0.35 billion to $0.44 billion year by 2030, with a realistic chance to push beyond $0.5 billion if 5G monetisation through gaming, video, enterprise slices actually works. It is also dependent on fintech regulation opening up mobile-money-style products and the Digital Algeria 2030 plan hitting its targets on digital GDP share.
Jordan: small market, big digital ambitions
Jordan, meanwhile, is positioning itself as a Levant tech hub. The ICT market here is expected to grow from about $2.68 billion in 2025 to $5.68 billion in 2030, driven by government digitisation and cloud/data-centre demand, suggests Mordor Intelligence. Within this, the telecom MNO segment should grow from $1.37 billion to $1.72 billion across the same period.
Jordan has high internet and mobile penetration of around 89% internet and 77% mobile, alongside a fiercely competitive operator triopoly of Zain, Orange and Umniah. The wider ‘Jordan digital market’ is seeing rapid expansion in ecommerce and digital payments.
Assuming telemedia services capture 15% of telecom service revenue by 2030, Jordan’s mVAS opportunity would be $0.25 to $0.3 billion a year. Given the country’s strength in developer talent and enterprise SaaS, upside from B2B VAS (cloud communications, APIs, CPaaS) could be material.
Iraq: catch-up market with 5G leap
Iraq’s mobile market is large and still under-monetised. Telecom MNO revenue is expected to grow from about $2.88 billion in 2025 to $3.41 billion by 2030, says Mordor Intelligence. The market is dominated by Zain Iraq, Asiacell and Korek, with Zain and Asiacell together controlling some 80% of subscribers, says Empello.
Regulators and the Communications and Media Commission (CMC) are pushing for better broadband and 5G/FTTH rollout as a pillar of national digital development and this, along with a huge youth population and growing smartphone penetration is driving this exciting market. This is generating ‘from scratch’ opportunities in carrier-billed entertainment, gaming, education and digital financial services.
The country also has a growing role as a transit hub and emerging data-centre location, which will bring more cloud and OTT traffic, according to Capacity Middle East 2025.
If mVAS reaches 15% of service revenue by 2030, Iraq could support $0.5 billion in mobile telemediaannually – with particularly strong potential in Arabic entertainment, sports, religious content, and mobile banking/loan products.
Oman: from duopoly to digital services hub
Oman is an example of a smaller Gulf market where telemedia can ride on both consumer and enterprise digitalisation. The Oman Telecom MNO market is forecast to grow from around $2.7 billion in 2025 to $3.61 billion in 2030, says Mordor Intelligence. In parallel, the digital transformation market should expand from $2.7 billion in 2025 to $4.5 billion by 2030.
Recent data shows the country’s telecom sector growth of 15.2% year-on-year by May 2025, with 8.13 million mobile subscriptions, and IoT connections up 118.7% to 1.55 million, all signalling fast uptake of smart connectivity and machine-to-machine services.
If telemedia services account for around 15% of mobile revenue by 2030, Oman could see $0.5 billion in annual mVAS revenues – ranging from carrier-billed streaming and gaming to IoT-driven B2B services.
A quick word about Bahrain and Kuwait
While smaller in population, both these countries are pushing hard on 5G, IoT and data-centre builds. Bahrain’s telecom market is worth around $750 million today and is projected to exceed $1.2 billion by the early 2030s, with a specific forecast of $1.5 billion by 2030, according to data from Verified Market Research.
As a result, Bahrain ranks seventh globally and third in the Arab world on the ITU ICT Development Index, reflecting excellent connectivity and a strong base for premium telemedia.
Kuwait, meanwhile, sees overall telecom revenue growth that is modest, but data-centre colocation and analytics segments are growing at 30% CAGR, pointing to strong B2B and platform-level opportunities, says Yahoo Finance.
Assuming telemedia content and services stabilise around 10 to 15% of telecom service revenue in both the Bahraini and Kuwaiti markets by 2030, their combined VAS opportunity could plausibly sit in the $0.3 billion to 0.4 billion range.
Take-aways for telemedia
These ‘new’ MENA markets offer a considerable opportunity to telemedia players when taken together. The total addressable mVAS/telemedia revenue in these countries alone is likely to exceed $2 billion a year by 2030, based on conservative shares of their telecom and digital-transformation spend.
Youth demographics, high data/4G use, early 5G rollout, strong government digital programmes,and under-served demand for Arabic content, gaming, and fintech are all driving these markets and the players able to plug into carrier billing and wallets, localise content and navigate each regulator’s rules – often via regional aggregators and API platforms like Zain’s Dizlee and others – are best positioned, says Empello.
So, with 2026 knocking on the door, it is time to look at these markets – and where better to do that than at Telemedia Dubai in April? Book your place now.
