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Saturday, November 24, 2001 5:03 AM From: Nabil Bukhalid <nabil@aub.edu.lb> To: mlizarza <mlizarza@darkwing.uoregon.edu> Cc: Steven G. Huter <sghuter@nsrc.org>, Randy Bush <Randy@nsrc.org> Subject: RE: The Internet in Syria Message-ID: <LOBBLBHLEIALJMPLEGCDCEHPCGAA.nabil@aub.edu.lb> Hi Dolores, There is one ISP and that is the Syrian Telecommunications Establishment (STE)and they are administering the Syrian TLD. The Syrian Computer Society (SCS) is providing Internet service to its membership through a special derogation. ISP in SY Link Type Bandwidth Upstream ISP POP location(s) ========= ======= ======== ========== =========== =============== STE Fiber multi-E1 4 Mbps Telecom Italia 5 cities SCS Fiber multi E1 8 Mbps STE Damascus STE's link was previously with TeleGlobe, a Canadian company link, but now it is with Italy's Telco. SCS's link is with CYTA, Cyprus. Both links are fiber type, symmetrical connection; the current capacity for STE's link is 4 Mbps and a project to upgrade it to 8 Mbps is underway. STE's subscribers are nearly 10,000 and those of SCS closer to 20,000. Thus, the total is 30,000 but the number of users is most probably larger as many accounts are shared accounts. STE's POPs are POPs in 5 cities: Damascus, Homs, Aleppo, Lattakia, and Deir Ezzor. As for the near future plans and prospects for growth, STE has called for a tender to provide a national Internet backbone in order to have a large number of pop's (over 40) and to be able to serve 200,000 subscribers. After this backbone is implemented, private ISPs can be licensed by STE in all of Syria. Once the backbone in place and the private ISPs running the show, it is expected to see an exponential increase in the number of subscribers. Over a year and a half ago Mr. Makram Obeid became Minister of Transport and Mr. Mohammad Maarouf became the new head (Director General) of STE. STE's ISP is managed by a young engineer, Mr. Jalal Khudr. A new position has been created ("Internet Project Manager") in order to implement the Internet backbone mentioned above. But this position is still open. The Internet in Syria data update was provided and validated by Dr. Mansour Farah. Best regards, Nabil Bukhalid. <nabil@aub.edu.lb>
