MANAMA (Reuters) - Ascend International Inc, a
subsidiary of Lucent Technologies of the United
States, has been awarded a contract to install
new ports for Saudi Arabia's Internet service
phase II expansion, industry sources said
Thursday.
''Ascend has been awarded a contract to install
the new ports,'' an industry official told Reuters
by telephone from the Saudi capital Riyadh.
No details were available on the cost of the
project or when the deal was awarded.
Saudi Arabia currently has 5,000 Internet ports
and the planned expansion is to double the
number of ports to 10,000.
The Saudi Telecommunications Company
(STC), in a circular obtained by Reuters, said it
was in the process of activating Internet phase II
equipment to help speed up the service.
''We expect phase II to be completed by the end
of September, 1999... When phase II is
completed, STC will have expanded the Internet
dial-up access service area to include most of
the kingdom,'' the circular said.
STC, set up in 1998 with an initial paid-in capital
of 10 billion riyals ($2.6 billion) as part of the
kingdom's privatization drive, said it would
increase the modem allocation for Internet
service providers (ISPs) when the project was
complete.
''Each ISP will be allocated an additional 200
new modems across the kingdom. These
modems will be 'globally available'. This means
that these modems are available at all of the
Internet locations in the kingdom,'' it said.
There are currently 26 ISPs operating out of an
original 40 licensed to provide Internet services
-- the kingdom withdrew the licenses of 11
earlier this year for failing to provide services on
time.
Saudi Arabia began to provide cheap Internet
services to its 18 million inhabitants early in
1999 through the King Abdul-Aziz City for
Science and Technology (KACST) -- the body
charged with supervising the net.
Referring to a planned phase III, STC said it was
in the process of ''installing additional
equipment to further expand Internet services
throughout the kingdom, increase the number of
ports and expand international connections.'' It
gave no further details. |
