Today, the Cabinet held a session where there was a discussion centered around the Ministry of Telecommunications’ agenda. The plan is to reduce the prices of the internet and increase its speed. The Cabinet decided to allow Lebanon to achieve a milestone in offering a better internet service for users. The internet speed will become faster. Also, it will be 50 percent to 60 percent cheaper: 4 Mbps will cost L.L. 90,000 ($60). The prices for all the packages will be decreased. In addition to that, the price reduction of DSL will leave a positive impact on the prices of the mobile internet. In fact, “Unleash the Speed”
were carried out on 62 percent of the
. The tests recorded a leap from an average speed of 2 Mbps to a maximum speed of 22 Mbps. Imad Kreidieh, Ogero’s new Director General, said that the internet users in Lebanon will experience this leap soon. However, this change alone does not fix the internet in Lebanon. The infrastructure needs to be developed to offer a better experience for internet users. If the speed is unleashed, only those who are 1 kilometer away from one of Ogero’s central offices will experience a better performance. However, the rest will experience a loss of signal; that’s why using fiber optics is a must.
Fiber optics will replace copper wires
The Ministry of Telecommunications and Ogero will partner-up to build a fiber-optic network. There is already a fiber-optic backbone in Lebanon. This network links 300 Ogero central offices together. It also connects these central offices to universities, banks, and public offices. The street cabinets and the central offices are linked through a copper wire network. The ministry is planning to replace it with fiber optics. However, the street cabinet and the users will remain connected via copper wires which are planned to undergo maintenance. Kreidieh said that Lebanon is taking these small steps to deliver a higher internet speed to the users. In the coming few years, Lebanon will witness bigger plans.
