Research and Markets: Fixed Lines Revenues in Lebanon are Expected to Drop by a CAGR of 1.8% between 2005 and 2009 to Reach US$ 341.8 million by 2009.

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c21887) has announced the addition of Lebanon Internet & Datacomm Landscape Report 2005 to their offering.

Lebanon's telecom sector is set to have an operational regulator soon charged with implementing wide reaching telecom sector reforms along international best practices. Political uncertainty and turmoil had for long stagnated what was once the Arab world's most thriving telecom (esp. cellular) market. Barring further political and security turmoil, Lebanon's telecom sector is slated for major changes in the next few years.

Lebanon is moving towards separation between regulation and operation in the telecom sector. On March 15, 2001, a new telecom law was proposed by the Ministry of Telecommunications (MoT) to the council of ministers. Telecom Act no. 431, which was approved by the parliament on July 22, 2002, aims at reforming the telecom sector by creating a separate regulatory body and a telecom operator (Liban Telecom- which will then be able to exploit its third GSM license). By July 2005, the TRA board members were still not appointed which is a prerequisite before moving to convert the fixed line operator OGERO into a government owned company called Liban Telecom. This will be followed by Liban Telecom privatization, which will then be followed by liberalizing the market.

The "Lebanon Communications Projections Report" provides a detailed analysis of the Lebanese fixed and cellular markets and profiles all the major operators in the country such as OGERO, MTC Touch and Alfa.

"By mid 2005, the Ministry of Telecommunications (MoT) still solely operates Lebanon's fixed telecommunications network and is in charge of regulating the whole of the telecommunications in the country. The government sets the tariffs for basic, GSM and leased line services, and is currently the owner of the fixed PSTN network." Mr. Ahmad Al Assad, author of the report stated. "The GSM market growth was held back for more than three years. The original BOT contracts stipulated that both networks take-up only 250,000 subscribers each. This translated into a penetration rate of no more than 14% back in 1998. Subscribers grew to reach around 800,000 at year-end 2002 and were held there until the beginning of 2004. After the two companies took over management of the networks in mid June 2004, subscribers' numbers began to climb to reach 880,000 by end of 2004." Mr. Al Assad added.

On the PSTN front, a steady decrease in PSTN revenues and ARPU is predicted in the upcoming few years. The drop in ARPU would be mainly driven by lower international rates, traffic migration to the GSM networks and the expected entry of the second fixed line operator in 2009 after the 3-year exclusivity period of Liban Telecom's ends. Fixed lines revenues are expected to drop by a CAGR of 1.8% between the years 2005-2009 to reach US$ 341.8 million by yearend 2009.

Companies Mentioned:

--MTC Group

--MTC touch

--Alfa

--Ericsson

--Alcatel

--Siemens

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c21887

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1: Lebanon's expected liberalization timeline

Exhibit 2: Amounts of investment required to qualify for a package deal

Exhibit 4: Telecarte payphone booths

Exhibit 5: International calls and minutes

Exhibit 6: International inbound/outbound calls (2002-2004)

Exhibit 7: International inbound/outbound minute (2001-2004)

Exhibit 8: Share of international calls (2002-2004)

Exhibit 9: Share of international minutes (2002-2004)

Exhibit 10: PSTN international outbound calls revenues

Exhibit 11: International outbound calls' revenues (2000-2004)

Exhibit 12: OGERO's SWOT analysis 

Exhibit 13: PSTN subscriber's growth

Exhibit 14: PSTN revenues, and ARPUs (2000-2009)

Exhibit 15: PSTN revenues and ARPU

Exhibit 16: Telecom services transfers to the Ministry of Finance

Exhibit 17: MTC group operators' profile

Exhibit 18: MTC Touch SWOT Analysis

Exhibit 18: Alfa's SWOT analysis

Exhibit 19: Postpaid Vs Prepaid

Exhibit 20: Mobile subscribers growth

Exhibit 21: Mobile subscribers, revenues, and ARPUs (2000-2009)

Exhibit 22: Mobile revenues and ARPU

Exhibit 23: Distribution of population according to provinces (2000)

Exhibit 24: Breakdown of the population according to age groups

Exhibit 25: Percentage of population attending schools or universities

Exhibit 26: Sources on Lebanon's imports

Exhibit 27: Destination of Lebanon's exports

Exhibit A 1: Geographic map of Lebanon

Exhibit A 2: MTC touch coverage of Lebanon

Exhibit A 3: Alfa coverage of Lebanon

Exhibit A 4: Local lines setup

Exhibit A 5: International lines access - home

Exhibit A 6: International lines access - business

Exhibit A 7: Value added services

Exhibit A 8: New ISDN line

Exhibit A 9: Upgrade from regular line to ISDN BRA line

Exhibit A 10: E1 line for regular businesses

Exhibit A 11: E1 line for Internet Service Providers (ISP's)

Exhibit A 12: Upgrade to an E1 line

Exhibit A 13: DDI (Direct Dial In) feature

Exhibit A 14: Charges for National Analogue Leased Lines

Exhibit A 15: Charges of national Digital Leased Line

Exhibit A 16: International Digital Leased Line monthly prices in SDR 

Exhibit A 17: Kalam prepaid cards

Exhibit A 18: Telecarte payphone cards

Exhibit A 19: MTC touch postpaid tariffs

Exhibit A 20: MTC touch prepaid recharge cards

Exhibit A 21: MTC touch prepaid minute and SMS rates

Exhibit A 22: MTC touch Value added services

Exhibit A 23: MTC touch extra services

Exhibit A 24: MTC touch GPRS fees

Exhibit A 25: MTC touch MMS rates

Exhibit A 26: MTC touch corporate offers

Exhibit A 27: Alfa postpaid tariffs

Exhibit A 28: Alfa services

Exhibit A 29: Alfa roaming and international services

Exhibit A 30: Alfa scratch cards

Exhibit A 31: Alfa Corporate Tariffs

Exhibit A 32: Alfa connection fees for migrating to a Virtual Private Network