03 October 2015
BEIRUT: The number of Internet and phone subscribers increased significantly in 2014 in a further proof that this sector is rapidly improving, said Telecom Minister Boutros Harb, who gave an overview of the study issued by the International Telecommunication Union highlighting the major achievements of the Telecom Ministry last year. We are proud to announce the outcome of the study completed by ITU which reflects the great achievements made by the ministry in the past year and we promise to accomplish even better results for the year 2015, he said at a press conference held at the Telecom Ministry Friday.
Harb said that the number of fixed telephone subscribers increased by 11 percent to 965,723 in 2014 compared to 2013, equivalent to an increase of 8,000 subscribers per month during 2014. This increase has never taken place in the history of Lebanon, and ranks the country in first place worldwide when it comes to yearly growth in the number of subscribers in the fixed telephone service, he said.
He added that subscribers to the broadband Internet service increased to 1,132,139 in 2014 compared to 2013 which is equivalent to an increase of 134 percent. Lebanon ranks also first worldwide by registering such an increase in broadband users, he said.
Harb said that DSL subscribers increased by 45 percent to 480,011 in 2014 compared to 2013. This is equivalent to an increase of 12,500 subscribers per month for the year 2014 or 500 per day for the same year, he said. This also ranks Lebanon first among Arab countries and 23rd worldwide, he added.
Mobile broadband subscribers in 2014 increased to 2,657,329 compared to 2013, equivalent to an increase of 31.8 percent, he said.
The number of individuals using Internet went up by 21.4 percent in 2014 to 3,789,468 from 3,121,000 in 2013, which is higher than the increase registered regionally (8.6 percent) and worldwide (9.1 percent), he added.
This ranks Lebanon first among Arab countries when it comes to the yearly increase in the number of individuals using the Internet, he said.
As for the international Internet bandwidth, it has increased by 232 percent from 89,000 mbps in 2014 compared to 26800 mbps in 2013 which ranks Lebanon second when it comes to the yearly growth in international internet bandwidth.
Harb gave an overview as well about the improvement witnessed on the level of mobile communication. He said that the study by ITU shows that the number of subscribers in mobile services in Lebanon reached 4,387,275 which is approximately equal to the number of the Lebanese population.
Around 61 percent of mobile subscribers (2,657,329) use Internet service on their handsets and the speed of mobile Internet in Lebanon is 21.6 mbps, he said.
Harb said he Telecom Ministry was capable of reaching these results by taking various measures on the legal, technical and marketing levels.
We regulated the work of cable Internet providers and established a transparent tie between them, on one hand, and the ministry and Ogero on the other hand, in a bit to provide them directly with the required infrastructure at low cost, he said. This allows them to give citizens better quality services, he added.
As for the technical part, said Harb, the ministry worked on establishing a proper infrastructure for the fixed and mobile telephone services. We have also slashed prices of our services which contributed to an increase in the number of subscribers in the various packages provided by the ministry, he added.
Copyright The Daily Star 2015.
