Lebanon as a telecommunications hub?

The Lebanese might be excused for laughing at the suggestion that their country is set to become a regional telecommunications hub. But while farcical Internet speeds, unreliable service and inflated prices justify such cynicism, the man at the helm of the sector, Minister of Telecommunications Nicolas Sehnaoui, insists that this is indeed the path on which Lebanon is set. In an effort to improve the country’s state of connectivity, the Ministry of Telecommunications (MoT) and the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (Cyta) entered into an agreement in early March to share capacity on Cyta’s Alexandros submarine cable, of which Lebanon will use 24 percent. Designs are also under way to construct a new submarine cable, dubbed “Europa,” that will link Cyprus to Lebanon. Lebanon today relies primarily on two international cables for its Internet connection: IMEWE  (India-Middle East-Western Europe) and Cadmos. Beginning construction on the new Europa cable is critical, as it