Internet in Lebanon - Articles

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Internet connection speeds could leap to 20 megabits per second within the next three months, the chairman of a major ISP told The Daily Star, as the country climbed 10 places on a global Internet speed ranking.

Maroun Chammas, chairman of IDM, said the upgrade would result from several developments, including additional international capacity purchased recently by Lebanon, and the gradually expanding fiber optics infrastructure.

“Within months we will be able to reach 20 Mbps and, in the near future, the speeds will go up even higher in the future ... albeit if all the initiatives take place in a timely way,” he said.

xazbrat wroteDaily Star-- Sehnaoui: Further Internet bandwidth in coming weeks

BEIRUT: Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui announced Tuesday plans to boost the country’s high-speed Internet capacity to 33Gbit/s and said he submitted to Cabinet plans to reduce the charges of extra consumption on DSL usage.

Sehnaoui, who spoke at Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK), said Internet capacity had been upgraded substantially since his taking office and unveiled further plans to boost capacity by 10Gbit/s from the present 23Gbit/s.

27/07/2013
Telecom Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui said that more than half of Lebanon’s telephone substations were linked to a long-awaited fiber-optics network, and vowed to extend coverage to the remaining areas within the next six months. “After two years of work, the fiber optics network is ready in 170 telephone areas, and we sent a letter to [state-run telephone land line operator] OGERO to detail their financial and technical requirements to expand it to the remaining areas, which do not yet have DSL,” he said.

The minister said that around six months were needed before some 500,000 households in 541 towns covered by 118 stations would benefit from the expansion of the network.

“The project is a part of balanced development … and no Lebanese will be without fast Internet by the end of the year,” Sehnaoui said.

Average Internet speed in Lebanon stands currently at 2.62 Mbps.
Source

The minister intends to hold a news conference next Wednesday to unveil his plans for the sector.

Sources said that Harb plans to increase the speed of the Internet in Lebanon, which is among the slowest in the world.

وزير الإتصالات سيُعلن في مؤتمر صحافي الأسبوع المقبل خفض تعرفة المكالمات الهاتفية العادية والخلوية وتسريع الإنترنت .

Boutros Harb wroteAll details will be announced during a press conference on Friday 23 of May at 10 Am

Will speeds really jump?
The new packages promise connection speeds starting at 2 Mb/s and going as high as over 8 Mb/s, according to a press conference the ministry held in late May. For around 30 percent of the 300,000 households with fixed line broadband connections, such speeds are not even possible.
After years of delay, Lebanon finally has all of its central offices connected by fiber optic cables, Chebaro says. This means the country now has a network backbone capable of ultra-high speeds. The project, announced in October 2010, was initially valued at $40 million.
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BEIRUT: Lebanon’s telecommunications minister promised to boost the average Internet connection speed across the country in “a couple of months” after the implementation of a set of measures aimed at regulating the sector.

Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb denied Friday allegations that Lebanon’s Internet speed had deteriorated significantly since he assumed office and promised that the service would improve in the coming few weeks.

BEIRUT: Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb Friday unveiled a new strategy to modernize and upgrade the fiber optics network in order to increase the Internet speed.

Speaking at a news conference at the Telecommunications Ministry, the minister said the project involves replacing the current copper network with fiber optics cables. Eventually these will reach all houses, residential units, offices, buildings and sidewalks.

أفهم صرخة الناس وشكاويهم بسبب الإنترنت والإتصالات. ولست قديسا لأقوم بالعجائب لكن أعتمد خطة تناسب الناس كي يصل الإنترنت لكل المناطق
Boutros HARB @Harb_Boutros May 27

الخطة الاستراتيجية للاتصالات ستطرح خلال الاسبوعين المقبلين
Boutros HARB @Harb_Boutros May 27

الخطة التي سنطرحها لتحسين قطاع الاتصالات هي خطة جدية تمتد على خمس سنوات تستند على التخطيط وليس على العمل العشوائي
Boutros HARB @Harb_Boutros May 27

I understand the cry of the people and their complaints because of the Internet and telecommunications. And I'm not a saint of wonders but adopted a plan suit up people to the Internet for all regions
Boutros HARBHarb_Boutros May 27

Strategic Plan for Communications will be addressed during the next two weeks
Boutros HARBHarb_Boutros May 27

The plan, which will put it to improve communications sector is serious plan extends over five years based on the planning, not the random work
Boutros HARBHarb_Boutros May 27

1. The brand new fiber optic network is not on
2. The last mile
3. Bottleneck in the E1 lines
4. The high prices