Dubai, May 30 (IANS): The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said that mobile phone usage in country increased to 228.3 devices per 100 people as of March 2016.

The TRA in Abu Dhabi did not release comparative figures from previous years. However, it was revealed that there was an increase in the number of telecom subscribers in March 2017, by more than 132,000 new subscriptions compared to February, Xinhua news agency reported.

"This led to a jump in the total number of cumulative subscriptions to 19.835 million," said the report issued on Monday.

The TRA added largest increase in subscriptions was registered in prepaid mobile phone services, which gained around 104,000 new subscriptions in March, while contract services increased by 28,000 subscriptions during the same period.

The UAE occupies the first position in the Arab region in terms of the readiness of its telecommunications networks, according to a study published by the World Economic Forum in 2016, and 26th position globally among 139 countries.

The network readiness index measures the capacity of an economy to benefit from information and communication technology, to increase competitiveness and development, the report added.