Broadband

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If I had broadband, I would...

Topic Description: During the Broadband Stakeholders workshop held in January 2008, several speakers representing the health, media, ICT, web development, and e-content sectors were represented. The panelists related how the lack of quality, reliable, and affordable broadband connectivity jeopardized their competitive advantage and reduced their commercial potential.

Mr. Fadi Sabbagha, CEO Born Interactive, elaborated on the obstacles faced by his sector: “Every year, we are losing 5000 hours because employes have to wait for downloads”.

Dr. Nadim Cortas, Vice President for Medical Affairs, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center at AUB, highlighted one the doors that broadband will open: “With real broadband, we would be able to provide telemedecine in the rural areas. Think of the lives we could be saving." He emphasized the public benefit of broadband for his profession.

Robert Madi, CIO LBCI, ended with a multi-media perspective: “LBC has thousands of video archives that we would like to make available online”. Mr. Madi also reported loss of income and opportunities for his company to the benefit of European companies just because the latter has access to broadband connectivity and can market the LBC's programs around the world.

What about you? How is the lack of broadband affecting you? What would you do if you had broadband?

fsglobal

Join Date: March 2009

Posts: 1

Gender: Male

Country: Lebanon

Dear Broadband Manifesto Lebanon If I had a broadband, there will be no limits for my achievements Actually, it has been more than a year that I hear about you and read of your news, and never decided to join until recently when it was the right time for it. Among the 3 speakers in your posting, I know two of them closely and did business with them during the last two years, on projects that exceeded by far the capacity of internet in Lebanon. I am much known for my e-strategies and for the variety of products and initiatives I launched for the internet business in the MENA region, unfortunately Lebanon is a dead market and if they will not provide home users with at least 2Mbps connectivity with no bandwidth limitations, then nothing can be done. ISP has to look for VAS to sell not look into the connectivity as cash cows like the stat is looking at mobile phone users. Dr. Cortas spoke about telemedicine, well telemedicine is something that can be done if there is real initiative, I.E. in KSA there is MEDUNET http://www.medu.net.sa/arabic/index.asp which is full fiber network put in place for the sake of serving remote areas and providing e-learning in rural areas. In 2005-2006 I had the chance to work with these guys on a certain project and met with their MD. While taking a close look to our situation, we see that Hospitals aren’t so advanced in their online presence, rare are those who use RFID for their business and patient tracking. And RFID is a new technology for different use and doesn’t need huge amounts of bandwidth, it only needs closed and secured networks; banks on the other hand invest in their e-banking systems but doesn’t sell it or allow the maximum use of it for their customers, while universities in Lebanon are among the prestigious ones but doesn’t even invest in an e-learning system. So if all of these unite they can provide something much more efficient than they can imagine. Mr. Sabbagha complained about the download but what about the upload, he forgot that his work is based on uploads more than downloads. If we look it into arithmetic formulas we see the following For 1Mbps down we have max of 512kbps up and this is a shared connection not dedicated, so for 5000 hours loss in down there is about 10000 hours loss in up. If Born Interactive pays $10/hour for developer they will be losing each year around $150000 without mentioning the overhead for such operation. As for LBCI, I think the road is long especially when it comes to huge amount of bandwidth needed to run a descent New Media business. These issues made other countries surpass us, if we look to Dubai where they have the DIC (Dubai Internet City) or DMC (Dubai Media City) or DHC (Dubai Health City) or even E-hosting Data Fort which is one of the top international server farms and where large banks host all of their Data it. While in Lebanon connecting a small pc to a clean 256kpbs dedicated still cost me more than $1000 per month The road is long but Lebanese are fighters, the question is, are they going to fight in the right way and do not let politics intervene like it does in everything in the country Regards

fsglobal

Join Date: March 2009

Posts: 1

Gender: Male

Country: Lebanon

Topic Description: During the Broadband Stakeholders workshop held in January 2008, several speakers representing the health, media, ICT, web development, and e-content sectors were represented. The panelists related how the lack of quality, reliable, and affordable broadband connectivity jeopardized their competitive advantage and reduced their commercial potential. Mr. Fadi Sabbagha, CEO Born Interactive, elaborated on the obstacles faced by his sector: “Every year, we are losing 5000 hours because employes have to wait for downloads”. Dr. Nadim Cortas, Vice President for Medical Affairs, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center at AUB, highlighted one the doors that broadband will open: “With real broadband, we would be able to provide telemedecine in the rural areas. Think of the lives we could be saving." He emphasized the public benefit of broadband for his profession. Robert Madi, CIO LBCI, ended with a multi-media perspective: “LBC has thousands of video archives that we would like to make available online”. Mr. Madi also reported loss of income and opportunities for his company to the benefit of European companies just because the latter has access to broadband connectivity and can market the LBC's programs around the world. What about you? How is the lack of broadband affecting you? What would you do if you had broadband? Dear Broadband Manifesto Lebanon If I had a broadband, there will be no limits for my achievements Actually, it has been more than a year that I hear about you and read of your news, and never decided to join until recently when it was the right time for it. Among the 3 speakers in your posting, I know two of them closely and did business with them during the last two years, on projects that exceeded by far the capacity of internet in Lebanon. I am much known for my e-strategies and for the variety of products and initiatives I launched for the internet business in the MENA region, unfortunately Lebanon is a dead market and if they will not provide home users with at least 2Mbps connectivity with no bandwidth limitations, then nothing can be done. ISP has to look for VAS to sell not look into the connectivity as cash cows like the stat is looking at mobile phone users. Dr. Cortas spoke about telemedicine, well telemedicine is something that can be done if there is real initiative, I.E. in KSA there is MEDUNET http://www.medu.net.sa/arabic/index.asp which is full fiber network put in place for the sake of serving remote areas and providing e-learning in rural areas. In 2005-2006 I had the chance to work with these guys on a certain project and met with their MD. While taking a close look to our situation, we see that Hospitals aren’t so advanced in their online presence, rare are those who use RFID for their business and patient tracking. And RFID is a new technology for different use and doesn’t need huge amounts of bandwidth, it only needs closed and secured networks; banks on the other hand invest in their e-banking systems but doesn’t sell it or allow the maximum use of it for their customers, while universities in Lebanon are among the prestigious ones but doesn’t even invest in an e-learning system. So if all of these unite they can provide something much more efficient than they can imagine. Mr. Sabbagha complained about the download but what about the upload, he forgot that his work is based on uploads more than downloads. If we look it into arithmetic formulas we see the following For 1Mbps down we have max of 512kbps up and this is a shared connection not dedicated, so for 5000 hours loss in down there is about 10000 hours loss in up. If Born Interactive pays $10/hour for developer they will be losing each year around $150000 without mentioning the overhead for such operation. As for LBCI, I think the road is long especially when it comes to huge amount of bandwidth needed to run a descent New Media business. These issues made other countries surpass us, if we look to Dubai where they have the DIC (Dubai Internet City) or DMC (Dubai Media City) or DHC (Dubai Health City) or even E-hosting Data Fort which is one of the top international server farms and where large banks host all of their Data it. While in Lebanon connecting a small pc to a clean 256kpbs dedicated still cost me more than $1000 per month The road is long but Lebanese are fighters, the question is, are they going to fight in the right way and do not let politics intervene like it does in everything in the country Regards

Zico

Join Date: December 2008

Posts: 1

Gender: Male

Country: Lebanon

Answer to the question: [Quote]What would you do if you had broadband?[/Quote] is: Most popular & killer applications for the broadband are: 1- VIDEO (Especially in a Triple Play bundle [Voice, Video & Data] would be very attractive) 2- GAMING (Gamers Age is between 6 & 29 who form more than 50% of the Lebanese population [1]) 3- HOME NETWORKING (supported by FTTH, 50% of users have more than 1 computer (Office_PC, Laptop, Etc)) 4- AUDIO ON DEMAND (Streaming Audio & Music): 26% of the on-line population are regular monthly "streamies". Welcome Broadband :) --- REF: [1]: Demographics of Lebanon - 2000

Zico

Join Date: December 2008

Posts: 1

Gender: Male

Country: Lebanon

HanaK

Join Date: September 2008

Posts: 1

Gender: Female

Country: Lebanon

According to John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, Inc. "Broadband is only a piece of the solution. You have to address problems like an algebraic equation. Education alone will not fix poverty. Infrastructure alone will not fix poverty. Catching market transitions and creating environments of innovation alone will not fix poverty. And supportive governments will not. But all of these working together can. And you've got to address all of them at the same time.
Broadband enables health care to be brought to remote locations whether it's fixed or wireless. It allows education to be brought to remote locations. It allows farmers and teachers and others to participate in a global society regardless of location.
Jobs will go where there is the best-educated work force, the right infrastructure, and a focus on innovation and supportive governments. "

HanaK

Join Date: September 2008

Posts: 1

Gender: Female

Country: Lebanon

Remote medical diagnosis and treatments especially for rural and underprivileged citizens are feasible with broadband connectivity.

In Afghanistan where the typical life expectancy is 44 years, with an average of one in four children dying before the age of five, access to medical care is an extremely important current topic.
Given that only 35 km of railways are used in the country with poorly managed roads, Broadband technologies turned to be the best solution In Afghanistan; a telemedicine project, linking the French Medical Institute for Children (FMIC) in Kabul to the Aga Khan Hospital (AKUH) in Karachi, Pakistan, was launched in June 2007.

Video consultation and digital image transfer via plasma screens in each location will allow local medical centers lacking specialized radiologists to obtain instant access to medical expertise and special diagnosis remotely.

Yozef

Join Date: July 2008

Posts: 1

Gender: Male

Country: United States

As a Software Engineer having developed for large firms in the US, with well known companies, I think it is about time that Lebanon made this leap. Web 2.0 and web applications need some form of reliability of internet connections. Broadband has become a 'basic' medium of communication with highly interactive and multimedia forms, with much potential yet to come.

najeeb

Join Date: July 2008

Posts: 1

Gender: Male

Country: Lebanon

this is an appreciated and needed shift in the Leb Internet that will positively affect many IT ,Telecom ,IP telephony and even IPTV domain....but this movement or activity needs some additional studies in beside:

1- Technical and design overview that should be published in the website by telecom or IT expert on the way of this idea comes true.

2- What about WiMAX Leb? I think it should be besides the broadband Lebanon. Where it will be as designation in leb telecom not only in arab world but also in middle east.

Regards,

administrator

Join Date: June 2008

Posts: 1

Gender: Male

Country: Lebanon

Welcome new users,
Please feel free to post your comments and opinions.

Regards,

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