Lebanon not up to telecoms speed

Mobile phone shops in Lebanon are crammed with handset and BlackBerry cases in a dazzling variety of colors and textures. In contrast with the range of accessories on offer, however, customers can only opt for one of two service providers. Both Alfa and MTC Touch, the country's mobile phone operators, are controlled by the state, and both charge some of the highest tariffs in the region for what are widely viewed as under-developed services.

Lebanon was among the first Arab countries to introduce Internet and mobile phone services in the mid-1990s. Since then however, in spite of undertakings to liberalize the sector, the state has continued to monopolize telephony and dominate Internet service provision. MTC Touch and Alfa are operated for the government under management contracts by Zain of Kuwait and Orascom of Egypt, respectively. Now Lebanon is ranked below the regional average in a 2010 survey of connectivity in the Arab world by the Arab Advisors Group, a research and consultancy specializing in media markets, trailing not only the Gulf countries but also Libya and Algeria. According to the Lebanese Broadband Stakeholders Group, a coalition of professional bodies, companies and non-governmental organizations lobbying for faster Internet access, the maximum connection speed available in Lebanon is currently only about 1 megabit per second. Businesses need at least 100Mbit/s in order to obtain the full benefits of voice-over Internet, video-conferencing and data-sharing programmes their competitors are using, according to the group.