The growing demand of IT and mobile services in Lebanon and the MENA region has driven massive investments in Lebanon’s telecom infrastructure. The sector has achieved remarkable growth in the past few years, driven by various policy initiatives and government decisions to modernize and support the expansion of the sector.

On July 1st 2015, the Ministry of Telecommunications launched the “Lebanon 2020 Digital Telecom Vision”. This project is a 5 year plan which aims to revamp the telecom infrastructure in the country, estimated to amount to USD 600 million in investment. It aims to make fiber-optic connectivity as well as 5G connections available throughout the country by the year 2020.

KEY FACTS AND FIGURES:

• In 2016, fixed broadband penetration rates reached 25.6%, a considerable increase from 9.9% in 2013. This penetration rate is the  highest rate amongst the Levant countries and other MENA economies.
• In 2016, fixed telephone penetration rate reached 30.2%, higher than the average of Arab states (7.6%), and the world average (13.5%).
• In 2016, mobile telephone penetration rate reached 79%.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES:

• Increasing investments by the government in IT infrastructure.
• Emergence of value added services and call centers as new niche sub-sectors.
• Incentives: IDAL offers companies engaged in the Telecom sector a set of incentives and facilitation services as per the Investment Law No.360.
• Competition is heavily enforced with new legislation that protects against abuses of market dominance and makes the market more efficient and free.