28 April 2009
BEIRUT: Telecommunication Minister Jebran Bassil disclosed Monday a study to install FTTH, Fiber To The House, in both Hamra street and Achrafieh at a cost of $15 million. Speaking at a news conference, the minister stressed that if the study were approved by the Cabinet, then the project would need 10 months to complete in both areas of Beirut.
FTTH is desirable because it can carry high-speed broadband services integrating voice, data and video, and runs directly to the junction box at the home or building.
Bassil said that FTTH is a very advanced Internet system which was first applied in 1995.
According to Bassil, the initial plan calls for installing the FTTH for 40,000 Internet subscribers in Hamra and 35,000 subscribers in AChrafieh.
The project also involves the installation of a 400 kilometers of fiber-optic cables for both areas of Beirut.
"We are talking about a speed of 70 megabyte speed per second instead of the current two megabytes per second," Bassil said.
He estimated the cost of installing the FTTH to a million subscribers in Lebanon at around $500 million.
"This seems to be a lot of money but the economic benefits are tremendous for Lebanon," Bassil said.
At present, there are close to 100,000 DSL subscribers in Lebanon but experts agree that this Internet service still lags behind many countries of the world, including countries in the Middle East. - The Daily Star
Copyright The Daily Star 2009.
