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payment, e-mail, e-commerce, and tele-learning, which is now
being applied at several different universities in Syria. Tele-learn-
ing is employed in the provision of some teaching specialities,
and thousands of students make use of it.
Furthermore, a variety of private and public sector organizations
have commenced a process of rearranging their organizational
structures to make better and more efficient use of the IT appli-
cations that apply to their different fields of work. The Ministry of
Health has begun to use IT applications in some hospitals to
perform some surgical operations.
But despite the growing application of ICT in Syria, its adop-
tion is still in the early stages. Because of this, many projects
are now underway with the aim of developing the infrastruc-
tures necessary for ICT and the Internet, as well as e-mail use
in many areas.
Ministry of Telecommunications and Technology projects
The Syrian Ministry of Telecommunications and Technology initi-
ates and oversees many projects aimed at improving access to
and use of ICTs. The importance of making ICT accessible and
encouraging its effective use makes for a busy landscape of activ-
ity. Five key projects are currently underway.
In order to help generate new businesses, a software incubator
is being established in Damascus to help IT professionals create
software start-ups and small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
This incubator will contain all the infrastructures necessary for
creating the target SMEs, including software, communications
and computing equipment, and office facilities.
Government information and services are also to be made
available electronically. A government portal, or a web portal
for government information and services, is being developed. It
will act as a privileged access point for citizens, with the goal of
facilitating and encouraging citizen-to-government and govern-
ment-to-government interaction. This portal should be regarded
as an initial step toward e-government in Syria.
A further Ministry of Telecommunications and Technology
project will target the rural community. A number of community
centres are to be established in rural areas across Syria. These
centres will contain telecoms and computing facilities to help
integrate ICT in the daily life of rural citizens. They will be
managed either directly by the Ministry, by the municipalities, or
by private sector organizations using a franchise mechanism.
STE and the Syrian Ministry of Higher Education will collabo-
rate on a project to establish a high-level postgraduate ICT training
centre, which will also provide continuing education training
courses for ICT workers in government organizations.
The fifth key project will see the establishment of a data centre
to leverage the automation process among the different govern-
ment institutions by providing consultancy, data hosting, ASP
and similar services.
Towards a connected future
Alongside the Ministry of Telecommunications and Technology
projects, STE plans to continue its own initiatives to develop the
Syrian ICT industry. STE’s third project for the modernization and
expansion of Syria’s telecoms services includes the following targets:
• Expand PSTN penetration by creating one million lines in
urban and rural areas
• Create 340 000 lines for the rest of Syria’s rural areas in addi-
tion to the existing telecoms and data network
• Expand the Internet and data network in order to add one
million new subscribers
• Expand the backbone network
• Expand the intelligent network and increase ICT applications
• Increase the use of pre-paid cards for a variety of services.
These ongoing endeavours, based on cooperation between public
and private organisations, will help to ensure that SMEs in Syria
are competitive in the global market, and that Syria continues to
develop its ICT infrastructure, connecting all areas of its population.
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