wiredinUSA August 2012

INDEX

Three-day Internet blackout

Farhat, CEO of private Internet provider Ter- ranet. He says Lebanon is in dire need of a backup cable. Lebanon’s entrepreneurs are known to persevere, even during the depths of war, but its slow and costly Internet service has been embarrassing. Ookla, a company that tests Internet speeds around the world, has often ranked Lebanon last on its global Net Index, and the country has generally been lower down than many less developed nations such as Afghanistan and Burkina Faso. Many blame Internet problems on a policy which allocates 80 percent of the market to the state-owned landline provider Ogero, pushing out private companies. The state monopoly is a significant financier for the treasury, critics say.

During July, Lebanon suffered three days with only patchy Internet connectivity after acrucial fiber opticcablewas severed, 30 miles off the coast of Egypt. Telecoms Minister Nicholas Sehnaoui posted on his Twitter account that nearby Cyprus had agreed to reroute traffic until the cable was repaired. “This will increase the speed back to normal all over Lebanon,” he said. However, Internet in the capital Beirut remained slow, or not working at all, hampering businesses that are already suffering in some places because of the threat of a spillover from the conflict in Syria. “It is like running an engine at less than full power. A three-day outage for Leba- non is like losing 10 percent of the coun- try’s monthly productivity, especially for a service-based economy,” said Khaldoun

ASIA / AFRICA NEWS

wiredInUSA - August 2012

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