Update November 2000: Jordan

1. Introduction

In Jordan, King Abdallah continues to strive to turn the Kingdom into an Internet and IT hub and is encouraging the development of high technology in the Kingdom. In this context, a number initiatives in IT training have been put into place during the last three months along with a number of workshops and conferences promoting IT in all industry sectors. The government has signed a deal with Microsoft in order to deliver high quality services and information access to the public, and the Education Ministry has been very active in getting computers into the classroom and training teachers.

2. Last Developments in the promotion of IS

2.1 CALL actions

Around 1,000 aspiring IT professionals are expected to get an opportunity to benefit from a training initiative, as the Labour Ministry’s Training and Employment Support Project (TESP) and the Information Technology Association of Jordan (INT@J) signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday September 19, on training job seekers in the IT sector. The memorandum stipulates mechanisms of coordination between TESP and INT@J which according to the documents is expected to play a major role in supporting and developing the private sector especially in IT.

The Jordanian government and the American Near East Refugees Relief Agency (ANERRA) signed an agreement on Sunday September 3, whereby the agency provides educational and training services in the field of information technology to underprivileged groups in the Kingdom. The agreement was signed by Social Development Minister Tamam Al Ghul and ANERRA Representative in Amman, Thomas New. The agreement focused on IT skills and abilities to help qualify the needy groups and enable them to find the appropriate job opportunities. The IT project additionally seeks to establish self-sustaining centres of excellence to train IT professionals in several universities in the country. The centres will be composed of three elements: Training centres with professional trainers, proper equipment, state-of-the-art curricula and access to certification, secondly, a revolving loan fund that will help students in their training courses, and finally the formation of a job placement centre to help IT professionals find jobs.

A $30 million project to enhance IT at Jordan’s state-run Universities and Community colleges is in the works. The project is part of the higher education development project currently being carried out by the Ministry of Planning. The ultimate aim of the project is to supply students pursuing higher education with skills and know-how in state-of-the-art technology. The IT component of the project has five sub-projects. The first is the financing and installation of a standard-based information technology infrastructure including hardware, software and applications. The second sub-project supports the design and use of modern management information systems (MIS) in decision making by the Higher Education Council. The third project will finance the development of an inter-university library system with the hope of increasing the overall efficiency of libraries in the public education system and facilitate access and exchange of information between public universities. The fourth component will support training for individuals who will be assigned as faculty developers in each institution. Finally, the fifth component will finance student faculty computers and network, professional and end-user training, educational technologies and human resources necessary to operate the new investment in IT.

On Tuesday September 26, the Economic Consultative Council launched its first action plan for e-government, envisaging its completion between the next three-five years and the implementation of a few fast-track projects within the next 12-18 months. The seven fast-track projects identified by the 16-member e-government committee on the basis of their feasibility and visibility will involve services in government-to-business (G2B), government-to-citizens (G2C), and government-to-government (G2G) transactions. Citizens will not need to have a home PC to benefit from the government’s future online services since special kiosks will be set up in schools and post offices across Jordan. Mr. Fadi Ghandour head the ECC e-government committee.

2.2 COMM actions

MEXCOM 2000 Jordan’s biggest telecommunications event was held on September 5-8 at Zara Expo Center in Amman. This years theme for MEXCOM 2000 was " an office without walls in a world without borders" which reflected the tremendous advancements in various technologies for telecommunication. The Jordan Telecommunications Co. and Mobilcom who organized and sponsored this exhibition are laying the appropriate infrastructure to improve electronic trade and information technology in the Kingdom. Approximately 25 local and international telecommunications companies from Japan, Canada, Sweden, China and Cyprus participated in the exhibition. The participants included Ericsson, Siemens, INDEX, Middle East Communications, ASCOTEL as well as ARABSAT and ARAB Radio and Television, also participating in the event was Palestine Telecommunications Company (PALTEL).

A launching ceremony of the Reach 2.0 intiative was held on July 12 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Amman. REACH 2.0 is considered the second phase of last year’s REACH initiative – a five year plan for "Regulatory framework, Estate and infrastructure, Advancement programmes, Capital and Human resources development". Chairman of the Information Technology Association of Jordan (INT@J), Karim Kawar stated the main objective of this initiative is to create an advanced knowledge-based economy that has the potential benefits to compete successfully in the world economy. The Reach 2.0 initiative proposes strategies for investment, education and training, infrastructure development and regulation to accelerate growth in the IT sector. The initiative hopes to create 30,000 new hi-tech jobs and increase IT exports to an estimated $55 million per year. The ceremony included over 120 public and private sector representatives.

In the framework of the REACH 2.0 initiative a series of twelve technical workshops were held in Amman, all sponsored by INT@J and the information and technology sector. The first workshop on international practices of e-banking was held on Tuesday July 25 at the Zara Convention Centre in Amman. A second workshop was held the last week of July which focused on developing the educational system and the necessary training tools to meet the needs of Jordan’s expanding IT industry also held at the Zara Convention Centre. Another workshop called "Link Access" was held in August, the main theme highlighting this workshop was on aligning Jordan’s telecommunications infrastructure with world-class standards as a prerequisite for a thriving Information Technology Industry. A workshop was held on September 7 in Amman to brief information technology and e-business professionals on the rationale of venture capital and was to attract such IT-oriented investments to Jordan. Identifying the requirements necessary to develop an international presence for the Jordanian software industry was the major issue tackled at another technical strategy workshop held at the Zara Convention Centre on Tuesday September 19.

A lecture was held on Wednesday September 13 at the Le Meridien Hotel in Amman. The lecture entitled "A Journalist’s Guide to the World of Computer and Information" focused on the latest development in information technology and its effect on the media, and was followed by an "electronic chat" with the audience. The presentation given by Husam Sukkari head of BBCarabic.com and was sponsored by the British Embassy in the framework of a training program in support of the local media.

The first regional Arab conference on electronic trade and intellectual property rights was held on Monday Sept 18 till Wednesday September 20 in Amman. The three-day conference was organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Jordanian Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Jordanian Society of Information Technology. The conference focused on ways to spread awareness about IT, the Internet, electronic trade and legal and economic aspects related to the protection of intellectual property (IPR) and copyrights.

The Middle East Exhibition for Technology (MEETS 2000) opened in Amman on Monday September 25, featuring state-of –the-art technology with the participation of over 70 local, Arab and foreign companies specialized in the technology industry. The five-day exhibition is organized by the Jordan Computer Society. The exhibition will be divided into three sections: direct sales to the public, software package production, and integrated solutions.

2.3 PUBL actions

Jordan Telecommunications Company (JTC) announced on Tuesday July 4 that it will become an ISP by year-end. Moving forward on becoming an ISP, Jordan Telecom has launched its new portal: Jordanwide.com. JTC’s announcement laid out a new tariff package including discounts for end user, as well as a 38-46 percent reduction on high-speed data transmission lines, a 24-42 percent reduction on satellite links, and discount packages ranging from .5 to 8 percent on the annual invoice for ISPs (Jordan Times, 5/7/00, Jordan Times 26/09/00)

A private-public forum was held at the Grand Hyatt, Amman on Monday July 31 in which the Young Entrepreneurs Association (YEA) launched its policy paper on improving Jordan’s educational system. This comes in response to the Jordan Vision 2020 (JV2020) initiative to redesign and implement a new educational reform program incorporating IT learning at an elementary stage. YEA has proposed an incentive for public school teachers to undergo computer training in order to facilitate computer use in the classroom. Another initiative includes involving government to encourage the introduction of Arabic software to the public schools.

Dallas based Fujitsu-ICL Systems, an e-business services company has announced its intent to form a joint venture with Foursan Technology Partners, a venture capital firm and technology holding company based in Amman. The product of this joint venture – 4MENA systems, will provide e-business design development integration services for companies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Fareed Asa’di a partner with Foursan Technology Partners and acting manager director of 4MENA systems stated that they chose Fujitsu-ICL as a result of the company’s demonstrated services and technology skills that draw on Fujitsu’s global resources and experience. (Jordan Times, 26/09/00).

2.4 EXPE actions

The Education Ministry received the first batch of computers given as a grant from Swedish Falcon Company the week of August 28. The Ministry of Education has commenced an ambitious programme to install computer labs in all of the Kingdom’s schools. 500 of the 4000 schools are already connected but at least 200 schools have computer labs with outdated computers that cannot run new software. These are to be replaced with the batch of 500 computers received from the Swedish grant. The ministry will also train, 80 teachers to receive the Oxford license. This certificate means that its holder is a proficient computer user and these 80 trainees will help train their fellow teachers. The Minister of Education Khalid Touqan also announced that private schools would have to begin phasing in computers in the classroom. (Jordan Times, 20/08/00)

On Thursday September 14 the Jordanian government signed a deal with Microsoft Corporation aimed at bringing the IT vision of His Majesty King Abdallah II to Jordan and its people. The enterprise agreement which will cover all the government’s software requirements, is a first step in Jordan’s drive to transform the country into a technology research and development hub of the region. The government is dedicated to implementing this project which should enable Jordan to advance in delivering higher quality public services and information access.

MobilCom Jordan’s second mobile service provider launched its GSM mobile service network on September 15, less than eight months from the initial start of the project, delivering national coverage to 94 percent of the population of the Kingdom. The company has announced that over 100,000 people have signed up for a promotion that give away one free hour of talk-time per month to customers that open a MobileCom GSM account. Mobilcom launched a host of services including pre-paid and post-paid lines, SMS service, fax/data services and a website. MobilCom is a subsidiary of Jordan Telecom.

MobileCom Jordan’s new GSM operator, signed an agreement on August 7, with the University of Jordan to provide students with career development programmes that will help students develop technical skills and know-how to meet real world requirements. "Mobilcom is proud to sign this agreement with University of Jordan, one of the most reputable universities in the Arab world, and we intend to provide students with technical skills that improve their potential in the telecommunications industry after graduation" stated Jean Luc Vuillemin, CEO of Mobilcom. (Jordan Times 8/8/00).

During the last week of September, Motorola signed a $23 million contract with Jordan’s Fastlink for the expansion of the Fastlink GSM mobile network. Once the work is completed the Fastlink network will have a capacity of over 250,000 subscribers, providing enhanced coverage to cope with the anticipated demand for Fastlink’s new mobile data services.

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