A GIS-based approach to breakdown the TeleDensity indicator and estimate the occupied fixed lines at different administrative levels: A case study in Alexandria Governorate, Egypt

TeleDensity is a very important tool to show the trend of economic development at the country level. There is a big gap in the value of TeleDensity between the Least Developed Countries and developed countries. In general, TeleDensity is usually measured at the National level. The calculated TeleDensity value of Egypt in 2010 is more than the world average value and less than the average value of Europe.This study aims at introducing a new approach to breakdown TeleDensity from the National to Sector level, and estimates the occupied fixed lines (OFL) at both Sector and Shiyakha levels.Alexandria Governorate that is located at the northern coast of Egypt was selected as a case study in this research. Detailed analysis was applied at the Shiyakha level inside the El-Montazah sector. The proposed GIS-based approach is used to project the Exchanges and their spatial coverage extent at the Shiyakha level. TeleDensity was calculated at the Governorate and Sector levels. The resultant TeleDensity was used to estimate the OFL at the Sector and Shiyakha levels.The results indicated that the TeleDensity of Alexandria Governorate (24.1%) is considered among the highest values, whereas El-Fayoum Governorate is considered as having the lowest TeleDensity value in Egypt. In general, the lowest TeleDensity values were observed at the Governorates of Upper Egypt. It is noticed that the highest OFL values were concentrated on the northern sectors of the Alexandria Governorate study area. It is concluded that the GIS plays an important role in visualizing and analyzing the telecom infrastructure.