Telecoms: Broadband please Lebanon has long been plagued by archaic Internet speeds. But that may change by the end of the year. At a recent regional telecom conference held in Beirut, Samer Salameh, chairman and chief executive officer of Alfa, managed by Orascom Telecom, announced that his company would introduce mobile broadband services to the Lebanese market by the end of this year. If implemented, Lebanon’s mobile users will have the ability to download various types of media onto their mobile devices at speeds dozens of times faster than the current fixed service maximum. Since Lebanon’s telecommunications industry still falls under government control, the state will foot the implementation bill. The new service will compliment the recent expansion undertaken by Lebanon’s two mobile operators subsequent to renewing their management contracts with the Lebanese government. The move by the government will also allow the mobile industry to leapfrog the country’s fixed
