The telecommunications sector's influence is pervasive, affecting various other sectors and therefore the country's national growth, said Telecoms Minister Charbel Nahas, during a lecture held at AUB.
For this reason, the ministry is working to upgrade its services by installing a Broadband Fiber Optic Network that is expected to speed up internet access substantially. Once this network is in place, the country will also be able to export internet services, noted the minister.
Nahas presented a lecture on April 12, 2010, entitled “Telecommunications and Its Role in National Development,” and hosted by the Institute of Financial Economics at AUB.
In his lecture, Nahas noted that the telecommunications sector contributes effectively and efficiently to the GDP of Lebanon in terms of job creation and generating government tax revenues.
Currently, tax revenues from the telecoms sector alone amount to $1.2 billion a year, which accounts for 15 percent of GDP, he noted.
Elsewhere, during a workshop on the fiber optics network, Nahhas had noted that the broadband project will be self-sufficient and will start generating profits within one year of its implementation.
With the new broadband system in place, Lebanon will be at the forefront of regional countries supplying this kind of fast, reliable, and efficient internet service, noted Nahas to the AUB audience.
Nahas has taught at the Lebanese University, and has spent 12 years working in the private banking sector.
