Jordan Times
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
ICT roadmap to navigate
country through two years of changes
By Sarah McGregor-Wood
DEAD SEA — The Ministry of Information and
Communications Technology launched a two-year strategy for the Kingdom's ICT
sector yesterday, broadly outlining the developments needed over the next two
years to keep the country at the forefront of the industry.
“All the stakeholders have been involved in developing this strategy and
everyone now knows what part they will be playing in driving growth and
reforms,” Minister of Information and Communications Technology Fawaz Zu'bi said
at the launch.
As well as setting out targets for the private and public sectors of the
telecoms, postal and information technology industries, the National Strategy
for ICT lists key performance indicators and monitoring processes for each
branch to make sure there is accountability.
“Over the past four years, we have seen amazing advancements in the sector,”
Zu'bi said.
“In 2002, we had a number of small companies most of which lacked direction and
marketing capacity. Two years later, they have a turnover of around $300 million
and Jordan's ICT sector has almost doubled its exports from $40 million to $75
million.”
The ICT sector is set to see substantial changes over the next two years as
Jordan Telecom loses its monopoly, opening the telecommunications sector to
competition. As well as increasing services and subscriber numbers, the ministry
is hoping that deregulation will lower prices and attract direct investment in
the sector.
“Over the past three years, Jordan has been able to attract companies like
Microsoft, Cisco and IBM to invest here and partner with homegrown companies.
We're the only Arab country to bring in equity investors,” noted the minister.
“We now want to see how to share this around the Arab world, creating synergies
and enhancing our investment,” he added.
Dealing with a mass of potential new telecoms companies is just one of the major
challenges faced by the government and the ICT sector. The National Strategy
also seeks to significantly increase Internet use in the Kingdom from its
present low rate of 10 per cent, although the minister declined to give an exact
target figure.
“The strategy aims to integrate all the different programmes and sectors,” said
Nadia Saeed, MoICT secretary general. “By connecting schools for example, you
are connecting a third of the population.”
Increased cooperation, not just between the public and private sectors, but
between all strains of the strategy is seen as essential to its success. “By
connecting schools and giving children access to ICT, you improve their
opportunities and allow for greater social and economic development,” Zu'bi
said.