List of all articles filed under “lebanon-telecom” category.
The key initiative being worked on now with the new government in terms of privatization is a review of the telecoms sector. The current Minister of Telecommunications has expressed an interest in establishing Liban Telecom, an incumbent operator, and is looking at liberalising the sector.
The Ministry recently permitted CedarCom to sell 3G services on smartphones. The agreement that was signed with the Ministry in 2012 had two phases: phase 1 was for dongles and tablets and phase 2 was for smartphones. This was just approved a few weeks ago and it will go into implementation in the next few months.
Cedarcom Group offers multiple services targeted to corporate and residential customers. They offer corporations dedicated internet services and hosting solutions, and offer multi branch companies data transmission solutions where we connect point A to point B to point C all in a secure method, offering high speed, availability and security features. The residential sector is offered mobile broadband services using the Mobi network and 3G services.
In terms of regulations, there is a lot of hardship. The good thing is that we have a good Minister, who understands telecoms, who understands the regulations and who understands market competition. .
Lebanon benefits from 3G connection since last year. The challenges that the Lebanese telecom sector faces today are related to infrastructure in Lebanon which is still not up to date. Also, the ICT sector in Lebanon lacks a strong telecom regulator.
Lebanon is unique when it comes to the internet. It was one of the first countries in the region to have internet back in 1992. Lebanon internet market picked up at a very fast rate and then the growth levelled off. Recently, internet in Lebanon is back on the tracks mostly driven by initiatives from the Ministry of Telecom of Lebanon. There is much more we can still do, says Cedarcom.
The mobile penetration rate in Lebanon is generally reported to be at 28 percent, which is far behind other countries in the region. Although Marwan Hayek, Chairman and CEO of Alfa, one of the two government-owned telecom operators, believes that it is actually 55%. But still, this is significantly lower than that of neighboring countries such as Jordan (74%), or Saudi Arabia (78%).
Lebanese government owns two networks which are operated by Orascom Telecom (Egypt) and Zain (Kuwait) for a management fee.
Video Interview with Marwan Hayek, Chairman and CEO of Alfa. Mr. Hayek shares his views on Lebanese telecom sector and privatization. There are 2 mobile operators in Lebanese telecom market, however they are still state owned, limiting the competition. The privatization of Lebanese telecom sector is expected to start in 2011.
NAVLINK has a unique approach to the needs of our customers. We have a Solutions Center which is staffed with experts from various fields. Our Solutions Center has the ability to digest all the new technologies and listen to what our customers require. Our customers are moving more and more towards IT outsourcing in the Middle East. The trend to IT outsourcing in the Middle East, IT services and infrastructure is reaching this part of the world.
