Lebanon’s ISP market will witness a rise in its total Internet bandwidth as well as its routing efficiency, according to new research by the Arab Advisors Group. The report examines OGERO, Lebanon’s monopoly fixed services provider, which plans to set-up an Internet node in Lebanon in early 2002 with a total bandwidth capacity of 90 Mbps, confirmed a company press release.
The bandwidth will cater to all of the incumbent ISPs in Lebanon and also interconnect them locally. OGERO will charge around $10,000-15,000 per month for providing an ISP with a two Mbps capacity through the node, a 50 percent reduction on current rates charged by OGERO for half circuits only. It will use global submarine cable operator FLAG’s landing point in Aqaba, Jordan.
Lebanon fares well by regional standards in terms of Internet access. Competition has caused Internet fees to be relatively low and subscriber numbers already exceed the 110,000 mark, serving around 420,000 Internet users in the country. This said, the quality and speed of connections are not of the highest quality in Lebanon. To date, there is no ADSL broadband service and total international bandwidth stands at no more than 52 mbps.
The regional Bandwidth Index for Lebanon in August 2001 was only 0.43. The Regional Bandwidth Index is calculated by dividing a country’s bandwidth share by its accounts share. An index score of less than one indicate a worse than regional average bandwidth per subscriber.
Arab Advisors Group is a specialized research, analysis and consulting company focused on the Communications and Internet markets throughout the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region. — (menareport.com)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
