US embassy cable - 03AMMAN1544

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 001544 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
COMMERCE FOR 4520/ITA/MAC/ONE/COBERG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECPS, EINV, BEXP, JO 
SUBJECT: JORDANIAN TELECOMS PREPARED FOR CONFLICT PRESSURES 
 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: In recent meetings with Jordanian telecom 
operators, we were assured that fixed-line and wireless 
telecom networks were prepared for pressures on their systems 
in the event of a conflict in neighboring Iraq.  Plans have 
been made to protect physical infrastructure, fleets, 
offices, and equipment, and officials fully expected their 
networks to be able to handle any strains on the system 
brought on by heavy call volume. END SUMMARY 
 
2.  (SBU) There are but two major players in the Jordanian 
telecom sector: Jordan Telecom (JT), (owned by the Jordanian 
Government--41.5%, France Telecom--40%, the Social Security 
Corporation--13%, and miscellaneous investors--5.5%) and 
parent company of mobile provider MobileCom, and Fastlink, 
recently purchased from Egyptian Orascom by the Kuwaiti 
Mobile Telecommunications Company.  JT currently has 650,000 
land-line subscribers.  Fastlink dominates the wireless 
market, however, with 700,000 subscribers to MobileCom's 
300,000.  More rapid than expected growth in Fastlink's 
client base last year put a strain on the company's 
infrastructure, resulting in occasional periods of system 
failure, most notably during a snowstorm in January, 2002. 
 
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FASTLINK IS FINE 
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3.  (SBU) On March 12, Fastlink CEO Michael Dagher told us 
that since last year, the company has spent $120 million 
upgrading its infrastructure, and he was confident any surge 
in traffic could "smoothly" be accommodated in the event of 
conflict.  He pointed out that there were no system outages 
during the late February blizzard in Amman, when the city was 
carpeted with 28 inches of snow, likewise during the recent 
Eid holidays when the network was handling twice the normal 
local traffic.  He attributed the increase in capacity to the 
upgrades, and expressed confidence that Fastlink could, at 
present, handle 1.5 million customers at any given time. 
Dagher said he was more concerned about international calls, 
given what he said was limited capacity on the part of JT, 
currently the only legal provider for international traffic 
in and out of Jordan. 
 
4.  (SBU) Dagher also said that the company is working with 
the Ministry of Information Communication and Technology 
(MOICT) regarding security of Fastlink buildings and 
infrastructure, which is largely located within the Amman 
headquarters.  Fastlink also has towers spread out throughout 
the country, and those will be guarded as well.  Dagher added 
that Fastlink will depend on cameras, alarms, and a large 
(100 person) security force to protect company assets, 
including Dagher's private home. 
 
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JT READY 
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5.  (SBU) Olivier Faure, JT Director of Marketing, told us 
March 9 they had "no worries" about the system's ability to 
handle either heightened domestic volume or international 
calls.  He said that 70% of Jordan Telecom's traffic is 
within the Middle East and that the network is fully equipped 
to handle it.  Faure said the company also had no strong 
concerns about international traffic backing up.  He said 
additional switches recently added by JT should help the 
network accommodate calls from Jordan to the United States. 
He added that JT "can not control how traffic comes in," and 
fell back on the familiar JT refrain about long distance 
traffic bypassing JT's infrastructure via low-cost foreign 
carriers or pirated by illegal voice over IP operators. 
Faure said that MobileCom recorded no outages during the 
recent snowstorm, and that only a few of JT's fixed-line 
customers lost service due to phone lines downed by trees or 
heavy snow. 
 
6.  (SBU) Regarding JT's infrastructure, Faure said that the 
company's concerns were twofold: collateral or intentional 
damage to infrastructure, and interruption of fuel/energy 
supplies.  Regarding the former, he said JT was working with 
the government to get extra police and military protection 
for buildings, switches, and towers.  Faure said the bigger 
problem could be servicing the network should either the JT 
maintenance fleet be unable to move due to a cutoff in fuel 
stocks, or equipment suffer damage as a result of an 
interruption in energy supply or flow.  On the whole, 
however, Faure said both the wireless and the fixed-line 
networks would be "okay." 
 
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COMMENT 
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7.  (SBU) Unlike the 2001 snowstorm, when the Fastlink 
network went down for a number of hours, Jordanian telecoms 
seem well-prepared for any surge in volume due to possible 
conflict in Iraq.  If last month's blizzard, which 
effectively shut down the city for almost four days, was a 
test-run of sector infrastructure's ability to handle an 
increase, it appears that the confidence of Jordanian telecom 
officials may not be misplaced, absent any serious and 
long-term damage to infrastructure or equipment.  On the 
other hand, problems--unrelated to military operations--with 
poor quality inbound voice and fax service can be expected to 
persist until the GOJ takes decisive action to address the 
regulatory and pricing issues that are their core. 
GNEHM