Digital Reach

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YRIAN

OVERNMENT

has been keeping pace with

modern developments and scientific inventions in the

world of information and communications technology

(ICT), and the country has made considerable efforts in recent

years to improve its participation in the global ICT market. Syria’s

telecom infrastructure, from voice and data telephone systems to

the Internet, has undergone extensive development and modern-

ization in order to increase accessibility and improve Syria’s

competitiveness in the global market place.

The Syrian Telecom Establishment (STE) is the main provider

of ICT services to the population across Syria, in rural and urban

areas, and in industrialized cities. Under the supervision of the

Syrian Ministry of Telecommunications and Technology, STE is

working to build, develop and expand telecommunications, data

and Internet infrastructure countrywide.

STE is working to achieve a number of specific goals. Public

Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) penetration currently stands

at 15 per cent of the population, and STE intends to raise this to

22 per cent. Mobile phone network penetration, currently at 14

per cent, will be doubled to 28 per cent. But the most ambitious

target is that of increasing Syria’s Internet and data infrastructure

penetration from one per cent to 12 per cent.

Partnerships with the private sector are crucial to these projects,

and to the establishment of an ICT industry in Syria. Private sector

companies manufacture and supply computing equipment to the

market. Whereas currently, STE and the Syrian Computer Society

are the two main Internet service providers (ISP) in Syria, private

sector companies will soon join them in Internet service provi-

sion. Internet access notes have been established in tourist areas,

and intranet Local and Wide Area Networks (LAN and WAN)

have been set up at government premises and in universities. A

further, ongoing project is to connect the census offices that

provide Syria’s Ministry for the Interior with all data relating to

the personal status of its citizens.

ICT drives development

The ICT industry is helping to shape the development plan for

Syria, especially when it comes to the youth and children. Many

schools at different levels have been connected to the Internet

networks, and Internet applications, or e-applications, have begun

to have a real impact on different sectors in Syria, including the

economic, social, cultural, commercial and health sectors.

The adoption of ICT across Syria is varied and widespread.

Many sectors have now started to use e-applications such as e-

IT industry progress in Syria and

the road to the Information Society

Syrian Telecom Establishment

E-Government applications - E-payment