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October 06, 2011

New Internet Plan in Lebanon Would Make Service Cheaper, Faster
By Ed Silverstein
TMCnet Contributor

Lebanon’s Ministry of Telecommunications has released a higher-speed and less expensive Internet plan for private Internet Service Providers (ISP), according to media reports.

Reuters said that the new plan would lower the cost for digital subscriber lines (DSL) by 80 percent, and would increase the speed by as much as eight times.



The minimum speed under the plan is 1Mbps.

Internet speeds in Lebanon are among the slowest in the world and the service is far more expensive when compared to other nations, according to TMCnet.

In fact, Ookla (News - Alert) has ranked Lebanon last, in terms of speed, on its global Net Index – even lower than Afghanistan or Burkina Faso, Reuters said.

"While other countries in the region have capitalized on (the Internet), we have missed it," Nassib Ghobril, chief economist of the Byblos Bank Group, told Reuters (News - Alert). "They have moved ahead of us and now have a comparative advantage. A lot of companies that rely on the Internet look elsewhere to base themselves."

To remedy the situation, Lebanese business owner Mark Daou recently organized a Facebook (News - Alert) group called "Lebanese Want Fast Internet." The community has about 50,000 supporters.

 "Slow speeds affect me in the advertising business as all our resources are on the Internet. Especially now as many of our clients are asking for a lot of online advertising," Daou told Reuters.

The situation comes as Lebanon had the capacity to offer less-expensive, higher-speed Internet, Reuters said. In 2010, an 8,000 mile fiber optic cable linking the country to India, the Middle East and Western Europe started to operate, Reuters said. “But access to the cable was delayed until July by bickering between the Ministry of Telecommunications and Ogero, the government's land-line provider, over usage rights,” Reuters adds.

As an added plus, the plan would lead to economic growth for Lebanon, Reuters said. One study said that a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration would lead to a 1.5 percent increase in gross domestic product, Reuters adds.

Terranet and IDM are two ISPs taking part with the Internet plan, according to The Daily Star.


Ed Silverstein is a TMCnet contributor. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Rich Steeves

 






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