Smiles returned to the Lebanese communications sector in 2004. The question is whether they were forced. Two existential dramas in the communications arena last year were carried over from 2003 and the years before: the quest to make the mobile and landline sectors more productive and create a stable environment for modern data communications. A third troubling communications issue, the management of postal services, was solved and the new operators of LibanPost were able to present themselves in 2004 as a smooth running entity. Concerning the issue of increasing productivity in mobile and fixed line telecommunications, 2004 inherited a dispute in which the very definition of productivity was already a bone of contention. One philosophy that has emerged in the last five years was to regard productivity under a formula of control and profits. What operational recipe would generate the highest revenue? Who would control the networks? How could the
