Project brings in $100m investment, job openings
AMMAN — Jordan on Sunday awarded a licence for public trunked radio, a service expected to be rolled out by next April for the first time in the region and bring the country a $100 million investment.
A licence agreement between the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) and paging and messaging company Mirsal was signed yesterday at a ceremony attended by Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Minister Fawwaz Zu'bi.
The project is set to provide much-needed additional income to the treasury, as Mirsal will pay a lump sum of JD2.5 million in cash to obtain the licence and will also devolve 10 per cent of its operational income to state coffers.
The technology allows “push to talk” radio access — similar to a walkie-talkie — to be used by police, fire departments, hospitals and ambulance services as well as any business requiring instant communication access to several people over a wide area. Taxi companies are also expected to benefit hugely from this public radio service.
The same handset used for the “trunk radio dispatch services” will also allow subscribers to access full mobile telephony services, including short messaging services (SMS) and data services.
“Licences for trunk radio services have been awarded by other countries in the region, but we hope to be the first to actually deploy this technology,” TRC Chairman and CEO Muna Najim told The Jordan Times on the sidelines of the signing ceremony.
The spectrum of radio frequencies in Jordan, like in most other Arab countries, falls under the jurisdiction of the joint chiefs of staff, Najim explained. Security considerations and the sensitive nature of radio frequencies as a national asset are often seen as having contributed to the slow pace of deployment of trunked radio services in the region.
Here, the joint chiefs of Staff have allocated the frequencies to operate the trunked radio service and it will now be up to the licensee to work out an agreement on the cost associated with the frequencies' use.
Together with hospitals, airports and taxi companies, the Jordan Armed Forces and the Civil Defence Department are certain to stand as the first beneficiaries of the new technology, Najim noted.
The project is underpinned by a group of investors led by Saudi-based Aggad Investment Company (AICO) and NASCO (National Advanced Systems Company), and including local investment company Foursan Group. It is to be executed by a newly created company, New Generation.
The project was first announced at last September's ICT Forum. Mirsal said at the time that plans for a digital trunked radio network would bring $75 million in direct investment in five years.
But that estimate later grew to $70 million in the initial phase (from now until the service launch, next April) and $30 million for future expansion plans, said New Generation CEO Suleiman Maani.
In the first year, the project could generate 100 new jobs, which would rise to 250 and 300 during the second and third years, Maani told The Jordan Times.
Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates are amongst the regional countries seriously eyeing this technology at the moment, he added, “but
we hope to be the first to deploy it.”
By Francesca Sawalha
© Jordan Times 2003
