Syria’s Internet market: Brighter times ahead.

July 10, 2005

The long awaited Internet backbone and Public Data Network project is finally complete. The project was technically launched beginning of March 2005, after facing delays as a result of US sanctions imposed on Syria. The Arab Advisors Group projects that Syria’s Internet subscribers will grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 24.9% between 2004 and 2009 reaching around 507,000 Internet subscribers in 2009, a penetration rate of 2.5%, up from less than 1% penetration in 2004. This growth will be fuelled by the introduction of more private sector ISPs in the market that will be enabled by the Internet backbone project. Internet users in Syria are projected to exceed 1.7 million by 2009.

A new report, “Syria Internet and Datacomm Landscape Report” was released to the Arab Advisors Group’s Telecoms Strategic Research Service subscribers on June 30, 2005. This report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 850. The 47-pages report, which has 53 detailed exhibits, provides a detailed analysis of the Internet and datacomm landscape in Syria and profiles all the operators in the country. Please contact the Arab Advisors Group to get a copy of the reports Table of Contents.

Any investment in this report will count towards an annual Strategic Research Service subscription should the service be acquired within three months from purchasing the report.

“The Syrian Internet market currently has two main service providers: The Syrian Telecommunication Establishment (STE) and the Syrian Computer Society (SCS- Net). The SCS net started actual operation and service provision in August 2000 to segments that were not served by STE at that time. In April 2005, it obtained an ISP license and currently provides Internet services to the public and is no longer restricted to certain segments of the market. However, it still does not use the infrastructure of the PDN project. The Internet market became a bit more competitive in 2005, as Best Italia Holding obtained a license and started providing satellite Internet services in January 2005. Another two providers have obtained licenses to provide Satellite Internet services.” Ms. Serene Zawaydeh, Arab Advisors Sr. Research Analyst wrote in the report.

“As for Datacomm services, the Syrian datacomm market remains the monopoly domain of STE. The STE has an X.25 network and provides leased lines, while Frame Relay service is still not available yet. The STE owns the Internet and datacomm backbone and the international backbone. The STE is expected to remain the monopoly operator for datacomm services through 2010..” Ms. Zawaydeh added.

The Arab Advisors Group’s team of analysts in the region has already produced over 400 reports on the Arab World’s communications and media markets. The reports can be purchased individually or received through an annual subscription to Arab Advisors Group’s (www.arabadvisors.com) Strategic Research Services (Media and Telecom). To date, Arab Advisors Group has served more than 260 global and regional companies by providing reliable research analysis and forecasts of Arab communications markets to these clients.