End in sight to Lebanon's crippling Internet problem
Posted in: Internet Use/New Technologies at 06/10/2011 15:27
For Sara Darwiche, it has been more than problematic running her fast-paced Internet company out of Lebanon, a country with Internet access that is among the worst in the world.
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"Sometimes the website cuts and people think the sale is over. It really affects the quality," she told Reuters. "We open our sales everyday at noon and for some reason the Internet usually cuts out then for five minutes."
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Lebanon is regarded as a fortress of Arab entrepreneurship, with a vibrant services sector and a business community that is famed for its unyielding tenacity even during the depths of war. But sluggish and expensive Internet has been an embarrassing blot on the economy, and Internet-based companies such as ChouChic are rare.
On Saturday, the Ministry of Telecommunications introduced a new, high-speed and cheaper Internet plan for private Internet Service Providers (ISP) to sell on to customers. The plan aims to reduce end-user prices for digital subscriber lines (DSL) by 80 percent, while raising speeds up to eight times.
To read this Reuters report in full, see:
www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/05/idUSL5E7KN15R20111005
uk.reuters.com/article/2011/10/05/oukin-uk-lebanon-internet-idUKTRE7944PO20111005
