Jordanian government and business leaders took stock of recent progress in the information technology (IT) sector and set their future goals at a high profile international forum on the global trends of technology and telecoms in Amman on Thursday. Officials, local IT companies, foreign partners and potential investors all gave a thumbs up to the national strategy to develop the IT industry and transform Jordan into a regional software hub.
But the country's first telecommunications forum, “Convergence 2001 — moving Jordan to the new economy,” was also an opportunity for business leaders to do some soul-searching on ways to maximize the possibilities created by the unprecedented momentum in the e-drive and for the public sector to best understand companies' concerns and needs.
Local IT companies said they managed to raise about $60 million since September 1999 — more than one-third of their declared goal of attracting $150 million in direct foreign investment by 2004.
A brand-new high-speed digital data network, launched by Jordan Telecom in December, was hailed by both builders and current and future users as a sort of “new jewel in the crown” of Jordan.
The powerful telecommunications backbone built with the know-how and investment provided by Jordan Telecom's strategic partner, France Telecom, and with equipment by Cisco Systems and Alcatel, was expected to give Jordan the necessary edge to excel in the region.
With its “fast-moving development of telecommunications... one of the most advanced networks in the Middle East, and a vibrant and fast-growing IT sector, Jordan has “all the ingredients,” to meet its ambitions to become a regional IT hub, France Telecom's President Michel Bon told hundreds of participants in the forum.
Given the ingredients, Post and Telecommunications Minister Fawwaz Zu'bi went ahead proposing the recipe. With King Abdullah, the first champion of Jordan's IT development, attending the forum's opening session alongside Prime Minister Ali Abul Ragheb, and several Cabinet members and Royal Court officials, Zu'bi started his to-do list with the establishment of a Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies “implementing converging policies in telecom, post and IT.”
The new e-ministry would “proactively bridge the gap between public and private sectors and will break down counterproductive barriers that inhibit a pro-business approach,” Zu'bi said. The second target to be met over the next 12 months will be the birth of “Jordan Post,” after the privatization of the postal services, currently still in the works.
“An independent regulator with a full-time board of commissioners [would then be] established to regulate post and telecom services, and to manage the utilization of the spectrum of radio frequencies including those of broadcasting,” Jordan's youngest minister continued. Finally, Zu'bi launched an appeal to the private sector.
Now that the new digital network has provided satisfactory bandwidth, once legislation will no longer be an impediment, and the package of IT legislation expected to be submitted to Parliament over the next few months will be in place, “how much mental bandwidth can you develop to absorb all opportunities?” he asked.
Focus on Internet content is necessary to raise the current number of 25,000 Internet subscribers and meet the target of 500,000 users within the next two years, he said. “The race is on for the first AOL of Jordan,” he said.
Pierre Mattei, CEO of Jordan Telecom, which organized the forum in partnership with the Information Technology Association of Jordan, Int@j, said the event aimed to explore the full potential of convergence between voice and data networks, fixed and mobile telephones, technologies and communications. “Digital connectivity is a soft revolution that is going to change our lives,” Mattei said.
The three million Jordanian dinars, high-speed (64kb/s to 7mb/s) network currently covers central areas of Amman. Jordan Telecom has pledged that the network will be extended to the main governorates in the south and north of the country by the end of March and it will cover over 80 percent of the national territory by the end of May.
“We need to keep the momentum of progress, develop customer-oriented services, and push ahead in human resources development,” Mattei said.
Int@j Chairman Karim Kawar retraced the milestone events that marked Jordan's IT history since the first strategy plan, “REACH,” was presented to the King in June 1999. “We are now on the radar of international investment,” Kawar said, adding that local IT companies have so far raised $59.75 million in foreign direct investments. “We are on the right track. We have come a long way. The major hurdles have been overcome, although there are still challenges ahead,” he said.
The forum, the speakers said, took place between the first anniversaries of two milestone events in Jordan's IT history: It came slightly more than one year after the Jan. 23, 2000, privatization of Jordan Telecom and it preceded the first anniversary of Jordan's IT Forum, summoned by King Abdullah at the Dead Sea last March 24-25.
The ongoing process towards liberalization and privatization — especially last year's privatization of Jordan Telecom, the current plans to privatize the post and the liberalization of mobile telecommunications — was praised by corporate representatives as balanced and timely. Bon specifically applauded the strategy followed for the privatization of Jordan Telecom.
In some Eastern European and Latin American countries, he said, privatization was carried out too swiftly, resulting in the former monopoly being driven out of the market altogether with heavy losses in assets and resources. “On the other hand, when the privatization process stretches for too long, the time available might not be used very efficiently,” Bon said.
But the Jordanian government, he added, chose the right time frame, allowing enough time for transformation but not long enough for Jordan Telecom to “sit back” and enjoy its exclusivity, which expires in 2004. — ( Jordan Times ) — ( Jordan Times )
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
