Internet in Lebanon - Articles

BEIRUT: Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui issued a statement to The Daily Star Wednesday saying that faster Internet connections are already being delivered to most areas across the country.

The minister said faster connections, which had already been delivered to the capital, were rolled out by the ministry in other parts of the country on Wednesday.

The following is the full text of Sehnaoui’s statement:

1. All DSL subscribers of the ministry have started to enjoy the lower subscription rates, attaining 80 percent discount on previous tariffs. It is expected in this regard that the private ISPs will follow suit and apply reduced rates to the benefit of their subscribers.

2. Ministry DSL subscribers in Beirut have already started to enjoy higher speeds on their connection. Those in the North, in Sidon and in Tyre will today [Wednesday] undergo the same upgrade.

3. Private ISPs have partially implemented upgrading of their subscribers and are in the process of expanding their capacities to cover the remaining areas.

Boudy Nasrala runs a successful brand design company in Lebanon, but when it comes to communicating with clients around the globe using the Internet, he knows to arm himself with patience -- lots of it.
"I recently finished a branding campaign for a new restaurant in Qatar but it would have been easier to put my work on CD and send it by express mail," sighed Nasrala, 34, who counts among his clients Pepsi and Microsoft.
"What takes three days by mail takes one week via Internet."
According to data recently published by speedtest.net, Lebanon ranks next to last -- behind Afghanistan and Sudan -- among 172 countries tested for their Internet speed.
Such findings fan the anger of Lebanese who snap up new technological products as soon as they go on the market but whose enthusiasm is tempered by the country's snail's pace Internet connections.

Lebanon is expected to unveil a new optical submarine telecommunications cable, dubbed EUROPA, which is aimed at doubling international capacity, preventing Internet breakdown and radically improving the country’s forthcoming fiber-optics network, a senior telecoms official said Monday.

اعلنت هيئة أوجيرو أنها ستقوم بدءا من اليوم برفع سرعات خدمات الانترنت السريع "دي اس ال" إلى 1 ميغابايت بالثانية في الحد الأدنى إلى كل المشتركين المرتبطين بالمراكز الهاتفية في خلدة، حدث، جعيتا، النبطية، عاليه، بعبدا، بيت مري والعدلية. وبذلك يصبح إجمالي عدد السنترالات التي قامت الهيئة برفع سرعات خدمات الانترنت السريعة فيها 34 مركزاً بدءا من 4 الجاري بعد توافر السيولة المالية، اضافة إلى 14 مركزاً هاتفياً خلال تشرين الأول ليصبح إجمالي عدد السنترالات التي رفعت سرعة الـ DSL فيها إلى 1 ميغابايت بالثانية 48 مركزاً هاتفياً.
وتقوم الوحدات التقنية الخاصة في مديرية تكنولوجيا المعلومات والمجموعات الفنية التابعة لها بالعمل، ليل نهار، بما فيها أيام العطل والأعياد على تركيب وتشغيل وتطوير البنية التحتية اللازمة لاستكمال رفع سرعة خدمات الـ "دي اس ال".
وستستتبع الهيئة رفع زيادة سرعة خدمات الانترت السريع تدريجاً في المناطق الهاتفية الأخرى بما يسمح في تغطية كل الأراضي اللبنانية، وذلك تنفيذا للمرسوم الذي اصدرته الحكومة في 15 ايلول الماضي في هذا المجال والتزاماً منها المواعيد والمهل الزمنية التي سبق وتعهدتها الهيئة تجاه مشتركيها في بيانات صحافية اصدرتها سابقا".

15 February 2012

BEIRUT: Lebanon is set for another Internet upgrade as work on the IMEWE submarine cable nears conclusion, the adviser to Telecoms Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui told The Daily Star Tuesday.

The upgrade primarily aims to eliminate bandwidth bottlenecks, or congestion on Lebanon’s international linkages with global Internet providers, which is still stifling connection speeds across the country

“The upgrade on IMEWE, linking Lebanon and Cyprus, will allow the elimination of bottlenecks on international links that are still slowing down Internet speeds,” said Firas Abi-Nassif, adding that “the upgrade is due to be finalized within a six-month period.”

Most Internet users still report that they still do not benefit from the full speeds stipulated in their new ADSL contracts with OGERO, the public landline and Internet provider, and most privately run Internet providers.

@NicolaSehnaoui just announced Lebanon will be reaching 33 Gbps in May 2012. And an extra 700 Gbps in a few months after that

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.

Minister Sehnaoui wrote - Lebanon purchased 24% of Alexandros submarine cable connecting Cyprus with France.

This agreement opens up for Lebanon an additional 700 Gbps capacity.

This agreement provides Lebanon with international connectivity redundancy.

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.