A national digital public trunked radio network is set to be constructed in Jordan following an agreement in principle between radio paging licensee Mirsal and the Telecommunications Regulation Commission (TRC) to award a license for the operation of a digital Public Trunking network in Jordan.
The award is expected to create over 200 white-collar jobs in Jordan over the next year and will see a direct $47 million investment made in the construction of the national network by the end of 2003.
“This significant investment in Jordan comes as a direct result of the amendments to the Telecommunications Law earlier this year, and shows how we can work effectively to build partnerships with investors in Jordan that bring new services and capabilities to Jordanian businesses and people,” said Jordanian Minister of Information and Communications Technology Fawaz Zu'bi.
Mirsal's proposed network investment is underpinned by a group of investors led by Saudi based Aggad Investment Company (AICO) and NASCO (National Advanced Systems Company), and including Jordanian investment company Foursan Group. A service launch is expected by early 2004.
The 2.5 million Jordanian Dinar ($3.52 million) license award would see the construction of a national digital trunked radio network based on Motorola's advanced digital IDEN technology, already in use by over 15 million subscribers worldwide.
IDEN allows ‘push to talk' radio access for applications such as police, fire and ambulance as well as in airports, hospitals, vehicle fleet and logistics operations and other business applications where instant access to a number of people over a wide area is desirable.
The Motorola IDEN technology also supports full mobile telephone services, including SMS and data services, and allows users to have access to any fixed, mobile or international telephone subscriber.
“The IDEN handsets and Services will be very competitive in pricing, will give access to full telephony services and will have the added powerful capability to talk to whole groups of people or to individuals with truly instant access,” said Aggad.
“There are some 8,000 users of trunked radio networks in Jordan today, with over 80 private trunked networks. This network will bring them all together in a powerful, digital service that we expect will expand the market significantly in the first five years of operation.”
IDEN networks also support advanced business applications such as bar code scanning and other mobile data applications with a 21 Kbit data speed. The network also supports the Assisted Global Positioning System (AGPS), which allows the tracking of individual units on the network. This is an important capability in applications such as police work, as well as in tracking shipments in logistical applications.
The Jordan ICT Forum is the Kingdom's international information and communications technology (ICT) industry event held under the patronage of King Abdullah II. The Forum serves as a platform to showcase Jordan's efforts and achievements in building a vibrant industry to develop export-oriented ICT products and services.
The Forum provides a channel through which Jordan's strategic ICT development initiative, REACH, is presented to stakeholders and potential partners. The REACH Initiative, launched in 1999 at the request of King Abdullah II, is a dynamic national strategy for Jordan to develop its ICT services sector.
It outlines a decisive national plan, assessed and adjusted yearly, specifying actions now being implemented by the private sector, the government and other stakeholders in order for Jordan to continue to build a thriving knowledge-based economy. Jordan is currently in its third iteration of REACH. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
