- Telecommunications in Jordan
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Jordan has a highly developed communications infrastructure. Jordan's telecom infrastructure is growing at a very rapid pace and continually being updated and expanded. Jordan's telecom industry remains the most competitive in the Middle East. Communications in Jordan occur across many media, including telephone, radio, television, and internet.
Contents
Telephone
96% of households have at least one main line telephone. 103% of the population has a cell phone;[1] 15% have more than one.
- Telephones - main lines in use: 622,600 (as of 2003[update])
- Digital Radio Trunking:100,000 (Unofficial, Nov'07)
In Mid 2004, XPress Telecom was launched as the country's digital radio trunking operator.- Telephone system: The service has improved recently with the increased use of digital switching equipment, but better access to the telephone system is needed in some rural areas and easier access to pay telephones is needed by the urban public.
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- international: satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat, 1 Arabsat, and 29 land and maritime Inmarsat terminals; fiber-optic cable to Saudi Arabia and microwave radio relay link with Egypt and Syria; connection to international submarine cable FLAG (Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe); participant in MEDARABTEL; international links total about 4,000.
Radio
- Radios: 1.66 million (as of 1997[update])
Media and Communications Providers
- Seagulls - www.seagullscommunications.com
FM Stations
- Play 99.6 - www.play.jo
- BBC Arabic
- Beat FM 102.5 - www.mybeat.fm
- Mood 92 FM - www.mood.fm
- Mazaj FM 95.3 FM- www.mazajfm.com
- Hala FM Jordan Armed Force channel, biggest radio network of Jordan, www.hala.jo Amman 102.1 FM, Karak 94.3 FM, Irbid 91.3 FM, Al Rweished 91.3 FM, Aqaba 91.1 FM, Azraq 105.4 FM, Petra 105.4 FM, Tafila 94.7 FM, Ajloun 94.3 FM & Salt 94.7 FM
- HD FM (Hala Dounia FM ) Jordan Armed Force channel, biggest radio network of Jordan, Amman 104.2 FM www.hala.jo
- Radio Jordan FM - broadcasting in English
- Radio Jordan French
- Amman FM
- Watan FM,
- Yarmouk FM - Yarmouk University in Irbid
- Sawt Ma'an - Al-Hussein University, Ma'an, southern Jordan
- Sunny 105.1 - www.sunny.jo
- Melody FM
- Virgin Radio Jordan
- Radio Rotana
- Radio Panorama
- Radio Monte Carlo - RFi,
- Radio Sawa - VOA
- Ammannet
Television
- Television broadcast stations: 20 (plus 96 repeaters) (as of 1995[update])
- Televisions: 500,000 (as of 1997[update])
PCs
40% of Jordanian households have a PC. This is expected to double in the coming years when the government reduces the sales tax on PCs and internet service in an effort to make Jordan the high-tech capital of the Middle East. The Jordanian Government is also providing every university student with a laptop in partnership with the private sector. All Jordan's schools are connected with internet service and the Jordanian Government is heavily purchasing computers and smart technology to be equipped in Jordan's classrooms.
Internet
Main article: Internet in JordanInternet penetration is 36% (as of March 2009), a high figure for the region. Internet usage more than doubled from 2007 to 2009 with the rapid growth expected to continue. The government hopes to have internet penetration to reach 50% by 2011. Jordan has more internet start up companies than any other country in the Middle East. The Jordanian government has recently announced that the sales tax on computers and internet connection would be removed in order to further stimulate the ICT industry in Jordan.
- Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 3,160 (as of 2004[update])
- Country code top-level domain (ccTLD): .JO
Future
When King Abdullah II ascended to the throne in 1999, he stated his intentions to turn Jordan into the high-tech capital of the Middle East and to create a Silicon Valley-like venture in Jordan. King Abdullah equipped all Jordanian schools with computers and internet connection and instituted an ICT curriculum into Jordan's education system. ICT faculties were established in Jordanian universities and these campuses have been churning out 15,000 ICT graduates every year. Information access centers were established across the Kingdom to allow rural areas access to the Internet.
Jordan will most likely surpass ICT giants like India and Israel if these reforms continue. The Jordanian Government has overwhelming supported these initiative and heavily invested in Jordan's ICT sector. The result is the most competitive ICT industry in the region. Jordan has one of the highest internet penetration rates in the region. All of these accomplishments have happened in the past few years.
By 2011, Jordan will have a 50% internet penetration rate, 35,000 employed in the ICT sector, and over $3 billion revenues.
The number of phone lines has decreased dramatically in the past three years to below 500K telephone lines, due to the introduction of WI-Max technology and 3G networks.
References
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the CIA World Factbook.
See also
Telecommunications in Asia Sovereign
states- Afghanistan
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Bahrain
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States with limited
recognition- Abkhazia
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Dependencies and
other territories- Christmas Island
- Cocos (Keeling) Islands
- Hong Kong
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