Planned Internet node in Lebanon to enhance bandwidth

The planned local Internet node in Lebanon is set to reinvigorate the market, according to the Arab Advisors Group.

With an initial planned capacity of 90 mbps, the Internet node will enhance the total country's bandwidth, allow local exchange of traffic between ISPs and set the stage for launch of broadband ADSL service later this year.

Lebanon's total country bandwidth is expected to reach 344 mbps by 2007, according to the forecasts. The tender for supplying the Internet node with international bandwidth is already in process and is expected to be finalised by this summer. In Lebanon, only Ogero, the monopoly fixed services operator, can provide international Internet bandwidth to ISPs.

Nevertheless, a lack of sufficient Internet bandwidth capacity has caused the ISPs to utilise private Internet download connections via satellite operators.

To remove the incentive of these connections and regain revenues, Ogero is moving ahead with plans to establish an Internet node that will pool the ISPs' bandwidth requirements and provide them with their required symmetrical bandwidth at lower rates, which will enable them to offer their subscribers higher quality connections.

A new country report, 'Lebanon Internet and Datacomm Landscape Report 2003', was released to the Arab Advisors Group.

It analyses the Lebanese Internet, datacomm and content market and provides five-year forecasts of more than 40 demographic, economic and infrastructure indicators.

It also analyses the major datacomm and Internet operators in the country and the equipment vendors' competitive landscape.

"Internet figures in Lebanon are quite impressive by regional standards. The subscriber base was 150,000 last year — corresponding to an estimated user base of around 450,000, a user penetration of more than 11.8 per cent," according to the report.

The Internet node is planned to have a total bandwidth capacity of 90 Mbps (two nodes with a capacity of 45 Mbps each via fibre optic links) and will cater for all of the incumbent ISPs in Lebanon and interconnect them locally.

The upgrade in the bandwidth will allow for the future growth in broadband Internet services. In fact, the upgrade will allow leading ISPs to provide broadband services such as the high-bandwidth ADSL service that Ogero expects to start rolling out in Lebanon by end of this year.

This will reinvigorate the ISP business and raise Internet access revenues to more than $64 million in 2007, up from less than $33 million in 2002.

On the datacomm front, the Lebanese Ministry Of Telecommunications provided a number of fixed wireless network licences to a number of operators for a validity period of 5-6 years during the late 1990s.

This means that fixed infrastructure-based competition was allowed by the MOT through wireless networks.

Private operators are already allowed to compete with the fixed line operator (Ogero) in non-voice services although they are limited to using wireless technologies.

Companies requiring copper or FO based leased lines and connectivity still have to purchase it from the fixed services operator.