Middle East > Lebanon > Lebanon Communication Profile 2012

Lebanon: Lebanon Communication Profile 2012

2012/03/15

          更多  

 

 

 

Lebanon Communication Profile 2012

01/11/2011
 

Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts

Telecommunications in the country has suffered for years from a lack of political will to make necessary changes to free up the market so that it can achieve its potentiel.Meme with a higher GDP per capita, Lebanon remains far behind neighboring Jordan in the development of the ITC, with the inevitable consequences of the decline in economic and social outcomes. The country fell increasingly behind the inadequate broadband services, limited mobile services, no 3G or HSPA and rampant piracy. The new government, which took five months of negotiations to form after the elections of June 2009, unfortunately, seems no more capable of reaching an agreement than to have previous governments.
In early 2009, the outgoing government has some way to release pent-up demand in the mobile market. Lebanon has two government-owned networks, operated by Orascom Telecom of Egypt and Zain of Kuwait in exchange for a management fee, with all proceeds going to the government. All prices are set by the Department of Telecommunications (MT). Previous governments have pursued a strategy of limiting the number of subscribers and maintain high tariffs, which resulted in the highest price in the Middle East and the penetration rate lowest in Yemen other desperately poor. Monthly ARPU levels was more than $ 60. In April 2009 the government took the radical step of lowering tariffs and increasing the maximum number of subscribers for each operator, arguing that the total revenue increase. This had an amazing effect on the growth of subscribers.
 
For many years governments have been unable to agree on whether to privatize the two mobile operators. Deadlines for decisions to come and go. Thus, operators are on temporary contracts with the attendant lack of incentives to improve services.
Broadband Internet has been very slow to come to Lebanon and were not introduced until 2007, again leading to much frustration. The long wait for ADSL services, which were "imminent" for more than five years, has been charged with various ways on the constraints of international cable capacity, the absence of a functioning TRA to set and enforce prices The difficulty of enforcing the ban on VoIP DSL happened once (potentially have a disastrous effect on the state budget), and protection providers wireless broadband. The deployment of services has been slow in 2008 and although the margin of tolerance now claims reasonable coverage, speeds are slow and prices high.
 
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) was established in hopes of further liberalization. The relevant law was adopted in 2002 and its decrees were approved settlement in 2004 but from 2004 to 2007, the TRA board remained unnamed, as partly due to political wrangling over nominations. However, since early work in 2007, the TRA has been energetic and active, as far as she could, without a broader new government legislation, and has developed a regulatory framework to cover the entire spectrum of telecommunications market .
Plans have existed for many years for the privatization of incumbent fixed line Ogero Telecom, and operational responsibilities of the ministries of Transport, starting with its conversion into a public corporation Liban Telecom. This is most likely to happen anytime soon.
 

Staying in touch

Strengthening the IT sector, cutting costs to consumers and improving internet services are among Lebanon’s priorities, although more than a few hurdles stand in its way. At the end of January Charbel Nahhas, the caretaker telecommunications minister, said the country’s IT services were on the verge of a revolution, with the face of the industry set to change dramatically. Before the close of 2011, internet speeds would be increased to 21 Mbps, he said in an interview with English-language newspaper The Daily Star.
 
This increase, combined with improved telecoms services and reduced costs, would be the result of a new fibre-optics grid being installed by Swedish telecoms firm Ericsson, said Nahhas. Any speeding up of existing internet services would be welcomed by users and the industry alike, both of whom have long complained about slow transmission rates and a weak infrastructure backbone.
These complaints were given substance by a report issued in early March by web-based network diagnostic applications assessor Ookla, which showed that Lebanon had the slowest internet speeds in the world. The company’s Household Download Index ranked Lebanon in last place out of 169 countries around the world in terms of internet download speed, and gave it the same ranking in the upload index.
 
According to Ookla’s study, conducted in February 2011, the average download speed in Lebanon was 0.49 Mbps, dramatically below the global average of 9.14 Mbps and short of the 4.74 Mbps average enjoyed by countries in the Arab world. Lebanon’s average upload speed was no better at 0.1 Mbps, well below the global average of 2.55 Mbps and the Arab world’s average of 0.85 Mbps.
 
Another report, released in mid-February, was more optimistic, with market research firm Business Monitor International forecasting a near-12% increase in Lebanon’s IT sector in 2011. This growth comes after a year in which total sales of technology amounted to $321m. Stepping up programmes to put technology into Lebanon’s classrooms, as well as the prospect of increased sales to the private sector, bode well for retailers in the industry.
 
With personal computer ownership rates below 20% in Lebanon, the potential for sales to the public is also extensive, more so if the economy continues to perform well and the effects flow through to a broad swathe of the population.
The IT sector is expected to benefit from the huge investments in telecoms infrastructure that have been announced by the state, though this assessment could give rise to some scepticism. Many of the proposed investments in IT and communications infrastructure have been in the pipeline for a number of years, being dusted off and updated on a regular basis but never fully followed through.
Experts have warned that the economy will suffer if better services are not provided. Late last year, Gabriel Deek, the president of the Professional Computer Association of Lebanon, warned that the country risked missing out on foreign investment if it did not improve broadband capacity and cut costs. Deek also said state agencies such as the Telecommunications Ministry needed to understand that better services would garner higher revenues.
 
“The ministry must be aware of the fact that providing people with more bandwidth will increase revenues, and not the contrary, because the number of subscribers will go up,” he said.
One project that is well on the way to completion and will give a significant boost to IT and communications is the planned implementation of third-generation (3G) mobile phone technology. When in place, mobile phone users will be able to access the internet through their handsets, with connection speeds up to 40 times faster than the current DSL connectivity rates.
 
Though long delayed, with initial trials of 3G technology previously announced for early 2009, mobile phone service providers Alfa and MTC Lebanon are planning to have their upgraded networks on-line soon. This would mean more than 2.75m mobile subscribers would have access to vastly improved internet services.
 
Lebanon will still need to do more to expand and improve internet links, cut costs and encourage greater usage if it wants to take advantage of the IT available and integrate it into the national economy. Doing so will see the country become increasingly connected to the online world.
 
Internet country code: 

.lb

Communications note: