AMMAN - The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology on Monday said it will announce the best mechanism to complete the National Broadband Network project by the end of this year.
"The ministry is currently looking into proposals presented by four companies on how best to complete the project and will review financial and technical offers before choosing the best method," a source at the ministry told The Jordan Times yesterday.
Cisco, HP, Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei have submitted studies on the best method to be followed to complete the project, added the source, who preferred to remain unnamed.
Since the launch of the project in 2003, eight public universities have been connected to the network in addition to 219 schools, 65 public agencies and four healthcare centres in Amman, the source said.
In Aqaba, 49 schools and six knowledge stations were connected to the network, as well as 346 schools and education departments, 17 knowledge stations, 33 public agencies, 73 healthcare institutions, the source said in an e-mail to The Jordan Times.
A tender was recently floated to connect Maan Public Hospital and Queen Rania Hospital with Prince Hamzah Hospital though the broadband network, in order to facilitate remote diagnosis of patients and cooperation between these hospitals.
Once completed, the network seeks to increase the number of Jordanians with Internet access.
Internet penetration hit 40 per cent at the end of the first quarter of 2011, according to the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission.
The country's ICT strategy seeks to increase this figure to 50 per cent by the end of this year.
© Jordan Times 2011
