The document summarizes the current state of internet in Lebanon. It notes that while ADSL was launched in 2007, adoption has been hindered by bottlenecks. There are problems with coverage, unfair access to infrastructure, and a lack of choice in providers. Pricing in Lebanon is also among the highest compared to other countries for the level of service provided. While investments have been made to upgrade infrastructure, speeds have not improved likely due to saturation of the backbone network and limited international bandwidth.

1. Internet Situation in Lebanon Special Report 18 March 2011 www.Ontornet.org www.ontornet.org

2. CURRENT SITUATION Where do we stand now? www.ontornet.org

4. ADSL started in June 2007, but this market is facing a lot of bottlenecks which hinder the wide adoption of true broadband serviceswww.ontornet.org Alcatel-Lucent after conducting a case study about the Lebanese Internet market conducted in 2005: “Lebanon finds itself in a situation unique in the world, where DSL and WiMAX will be launched in parallel. Both infrastructures will complement one another. DSL will be deployed in large cities; WiMAX will be deployed in large cities as a mobile complement to DSL, and as a main broadband access method elsewhere. The WiMAX strategy also benefits from the lack of 3G services in Lebanon. For an overall initial deployment of about 70,000 users, it is expected to reach break–even in a 24–30 month timeframe.”

6. Unfair access to the central office: DSP collocation to Ogero central offices is not transparent nor fair, contrary to the provisions of fair competition between private operators and Ogero stipulated for in the ADSL related decrees (currently DSPs are collocated in only 35 Cos our of the 98 existing ones)

7. DSPs are not allowed to connect to ISPs other than their sister company (except for GDS, which is connected to two ISPs, Cyberia and IDM.

8. A subscriber needs to cancel his subscription, pay new installation fees and wait for a new subscription to be provided in case a customer wants to change his provider.www.ontornet.org

10. It does not support high speed internet access, digital media services such as IPTV/VoD, online gaming, e-commerce, teleconferences, etc…

11. MoT Metro Ethernet network used for ADSL services is getting saturated by the increased needs of ADSL subscribers and therefore MoT started the expansion and modernization of its national transmission network to lay down a fully meshed fiber optic network of 4400 km of backbone along with versatile Active switching and cross connect components.

12. There are no wholesale backhaul bundled offers; DSPs and ISPs are still connected by network links of 100 Mbits/s

13. Coverage: ADSL is not available in all areas of Lebanon, in addition that many Ogero nodes (Central Offices) present in rural area do not support ADSL

15. Prices/Services in Lebanon www.ontornet.org Source: TRA

17. The Graphs speak for themselves Prices Comparison www.ontornet.org

18. www.ontornet.org Service Package in Lebanon Typical Service Packages SERVICES COMPARISON

19. Speed / Bandwidth Where are we? Where can we be? www.ontornet.org

20. To cater for growing demand in High Speed Internet services, major investments are currently undertaken by the MoT to increase the existing international bandwidth capacity. (why can’t we see any improvements then?) ? www.ontornet.org

22. “Participation in the ownership of the new high capacity submarine cable system that will provide Lebanon, upon its service commissioning, with 120 Gbps of international bandwidth capacity”

23. “Expanding existing submarine Fiber Optical Cable (Cadmus) by adding capacity of around 210Gbps between November and December 2010, and thus increasing the current capacity by 168 times”www.ontornet.org

24. Then WHY haven’t we witnessed any improvements even though the facts mentioned in the previous slide were implemented? www.ontornet.org

25. In the following slides you will read about a lot of technical terms, bear with us. www.ontornet.org

30. Currently MoT has around 8 STM1 (1240 Mbps) in service

33. Our international gateway (the door) to the internet had been upgraded (as per the minister), but still nothing improved for Lebanese Internet users.

34. The work on the national backbone (the Lebanese internal network) has started but it’s commissioning has been postponed many times.

35. Our prices are the amongst the highest in the world compared to what we get, and the Lebanese authorities indirectly monopolize everything related to that sector minimizing any improvements or competition between ISPs.

36. Promises have been made along the year promising improvements.

37. After being true leaders in the Telecommunications sectors on a worldwide level, now we have the slowest internet connection in the world!

38. What is noticeable:

39. Partied involved in our telecommunication network in Lebanon:

40. OGERO: Ogero doesn’t act under the supervision of the Ministry of Telecom: according to a law (number 431) implemented back in 2002, Ogero is independent from the Ministry of Telecom. It only refers to the cabinet مجلس الوزراء

41. TRA:The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) was established in accordance with Law 431 of 2002 as an independent public institution assigned to liberalize, regulate, and develop telecommunications in Lebanon.

42. MoT: The ministry of Telecommunications

43. What we truly have:

44. A verbal war triangle between them three, where each side points the finger to the other party (ies) as being the reason behind us being obsolete in the telecom domain.Conclusion www.ontornet.org

46. Our sources are:

47. Alcatel-Lucent study on “Broadband for Development in the ESCWA Region

48. TRA Presentations and case studies

49. Ministry or Telecommunications website and press releases

50. Ogero website and press releasesSources www.ontornet.org

52. DSP: Data Service Provider

53. DSL: Digital Subscriber Line

54. ADSL: Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line

55. Bps: Bits per Second

56. Gbps: Giga Bits per Second

57. Kbps: Kilo Bit per Second

58. TRA: Telecommunications Regulatory Authority

59. MoT: Ministry of Telecommunications

60. PPP: The PPP conversion factor shows how much of a country's currency is needed in that country to buy what $1 would buy in the United States.

61. MoU: Memorandum of Understanding

62. Bandwidth: a data transmission rate; the maximum amount of information (bits/second) that can be transmitted along a channel

63. WIMAX: a telecommunications technology providing wireless data, voice and video over long distances

64. OECD: The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, An international agency which supports programs designed to facilitate trade and development

65. International Bandwidth: All bandwidth that passes out of a country to the internet

66. Central Office: The facility of a telecommunications common carrier where calls are switched

67. PSTN: The public switched telephone network (PSTN) is the network of the world's public circuit-switched telephone networksGlossary www.ontornet.org