04 March 2009
BEIRUT: Telecommunication Minister Jebran Bassil announced Tuesday that Lebanon would start laying fiber-optic cables at a cost of $64 million as of June of 2009. "The fiber-optic cables will cover an area of 4,700 kilometers and will be completed by the end of 2011," Bassil said at a news conference in Beirut.
The project is aimed at boosting the capacity of Internet networks in Lebanon and this will eventually lead to a drop in the prices of DSL subscriptions.
Bassil added that the fiber-optic cables will allow the Telecommunication Ministry to introduce new services in the fixed line networks.
"This project will enable us to introduce new technologies for the cellular networks such as the third-generation mobile better know as UMTS," Bassil said.
The ministry installed fiber-optic cables in Lebanon 15 years ago but this network only covered an area of 1,300 kilometers.
Bassil said the existing fiber-optic cables and telephone lines needed to be upgraded in order to handle the pressure.
He noted that communications in Lebanon were interrupted during the summer war of 2006 after the Israeli war planes hit the infrastructure.
"We will make sure than the fiber optics are well protected in case of war against Lebanon," he said.
Many Internet providers frequently complain that the existing networks can't allow the companies to increase the capacity of the DSL.
Bassil stressed that Lebanon need to catch up with other countries in the field of telecommunications and Internet services. - The Daily Star
Copyright The Daily Star 2009.
