Broadbanding the nation: Jordan

Broadbanding the NationThe Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Michael de Percy Michael de Percy www.politicalscience.com.au

http://www.politicalscience.com.au/

http://www.politicalscience.com.au/

Overview

• Visited Jordan, Bahrain and Jerusalem• Hosted by Princess Sumaya University for

Technology• Built an open-source, bilingual eresearch portal• Worked from Amman, Jerash, and Aqaba• Taught a group of Bedouin divers how to market

their diving business using Facebook• Method: Comparative, elite interviews, historical

institutionalism

About: Host University

Princess Sumaya University for Technology• Non-profit private Jordanian university, owned by the

Royal Scientific Society • Professor Abdullah Al-Zoubi, Dean• King Abdullah I School for Graduate Studies and

Scientific Research

Model for teaching ESL@UCC

Jordan: Brief Overview

• Jordan borders Syria in the north, Israel in the west, Iraq in the east, and Saudi Arabia in the south east

• The capital, Amman, is the historical city of Philadelphia, one of the oldest, continuously inhabited cities in the world

• Home of Petra, the rose-red city of the Nabateans and the site of Christ’s baptism

• Seaport: Aqaba on the Red Sea, adjacent to the Sinai (Egypt) and the south of Israel

Jordan: Brief History (cont)

• Biblical land: kingdoms of Edom, Moab, and Jerusalem form part of its early beginnings

• Occupied by Romans, Umayyads, Crusaders, Ottomans, & in 20th century, the British

• British influence brought about by Great War & the Lawrence of Arabia in Wad-rum, Jordan

• British established Transjordan in 1920 with a population of about 350,000

• In 1946, Transjordan became independent of Britain and Abdullah was declared King of Transjordan

• Jordan involved in conflict with Israel and PLO until 1994 treaty

Jordan: Statistics

Jordan: Politics

Freedom House score: • Political rights rating declined from 5 to 6• Status from Partly Free to Not Free• King Abdullah II dismissed parliament and announced

elections would not be held until end of 2010• Also, security forces’ influence over political life• Reasons for dismissal:• “The delay would allow the government to rule by decree

for at least a year, and it was expected to enact a series of unpopular market liberalization measures as well as a new election law in the parliament’s absence” (Freedom House 2010)

Jordan: Telecoms History

• Warring British & Ottoman empires brought first electronic communications technologies to the region

• National infrastructure first appeared during early 1930 under supervision of the Post & Telegraph Department

• Cable & Wireless assisted in development of telecoms services via international connections

• Under Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Ministry of Posts, Telegraph & Telephone was established

• 1961: First automatic telephone services – 5,000 lines• 1971: Formalisation of Telecommunications Corporation

(TCC) as Government-controlled entity

Jordan: Telecoms History (cont)

• 1973-85: System expanded under three successive government investment plans in response to demand

• 1987-92: Recession affected Government funding to meet demand, demand increased with Jordanian expatriates returning during 1991 Gulf War

• 1993: Government initiated National Telecoms Program to increase penetration from 7.8 to 12 lines per 100, private sector allowed to invest in telecommunications projects

• 1994: Fastlink granted first mobile cellular license in Jordan• 1995: Telecoms Law No. 13 provided legal basis for reform and the

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) established• 1997: Telecoms Corporation (TCC) corporatised as 1st step towards

privatisation, renamed Jordan Telecommunications Company (JTC)


• 1999: Duopoly: MobileCom provides mobile cellular services

• 2000: Jordan joins WTO – obliged to liberalise industry by 2004

• 2000: 40% of JTC shares sold to consortium led by France Telecom and Arab Bank, 8% to Social Security Corporation, 1% to Jordan Telecom Company employees

• 2002: Ministry of Post and Communications renamed "Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MoICT)“

• 2002: Independence of TRC to regulate telecoms & ICT services

• 2002: 10.49% of Jordan Telecom shares sold in a public offering

• 2003: Government policy to end duopoly of mobile phone providers

• 2004: Public consultations on telecoms liberalisation

• 2005: Fixed market open to competition

• 2008: Government shares in JTC sold & TRC announces 3G plans

• 2009: JTG granted 3G licence and service launched in March 2010


Jordan: Telecoms Today


• Major players include: Orange (France Telecom), Batelco, Zain, Fastlink, Umniah, & Xpress

• Combination of ADSL and wireless (Wimax)

• Personal experience of broadband via ADSL and wireless was excellent

• Additional 1GB download in Aqaba = $2

• Additional 1GB download in Palmerston = N/A


• Major Institutions:

• MoICT: Competitive ICT & postal sectors that enhance quality of life & accelerate socio-economic development throughout the Kingdom

• TRC: Efficient, effectively competitive, accessible & affordable ICT & postal services

• NITC: To utilise national IT resources of the public sector and maximise its contribution to economic growth and welfare of Jordan





Jordan: Statistics

• Wimax providers 17% of market share• 4 major competitors in mobile market• ADSL = 11.7% of total households• Of ADSL subscribers, 13.3% share it with

neighbours• 28% of those sharing share the ADSL

connection with two more households• 22.7% with three additional households and

29.3% with one additional household

Jordan: Early Findings

• Considering GDP per capita approx 13 times less than Australia, Jordanian broadband services are very good

• Consumer affordability is the biggest issue, not lack of infrastructure

• Interesting feature: regulators have been “captured” by consumers – more like the ACCC than the ACMA

• Industry finds it difficult to secure inter-connection agreements via TRC (although 17 signed in 2009)

• Interesting to overcome the ethnocentric view of institutions and how these function in a developing market economy

• Interesting to see how the regulator “fills consumer gap”• Various industry “taxes” add up substantially

Education

Broadbanding the nation: Jordan