The following background information is based on documents published by three reliable sources:

This short historical perspective is meant to shed some light on the difficulties that any serious research would be facing as no official and unified body is collecting basic and vital economic information and making it available through regular publications. Gathering bits and pieces of information is therefore a long process.

Situated on the eastern most part of the Mediterranean sea, the Lebanese Republic streches over a tiny territory of 10452 squared km and a coastal line of nearly 190 km from north to south. A survey conducted by the CAS in June 1997 puts the number of permanent residents in Lebanon at 4005000, 92% of whom are Lebanese. 39% of the population is under 20 and only 10% above 60. The capital, Beirut, along with its suburbs, accounts for 32% of the population. Other main cities are Tripoli in the north, Sidon and Tyre in the south and Zahleh in the eastern Bekaa Valley.

Throughout its history, Lebanon has been a melting pot of different cultures and civilizations of the Middle-East. In recent decades, it experienced large waves of immigration from neighbouring countries.

A flourishing service economy prevailed until the military turmoil that started in 1975 and ended in 1989 with the Taïf Agreement. The outcome of this long lasting conflict was a full dislocation of the Government and the economy.

The year 1992 saw the advent of a somehow strong political Government headed by Prime Minister HARIRI. An ambitious reconstruction program started then aiming at the rehabilitation of all basic infrastructures. The huge investments over six consecutive years lead however to an unsustainable public debt.

The presidential elections of 1998 brought to power General Emile LAHOUD who, in December 98, appointed as Prime Minister, the former head of parliamentary opposition, Dr Salim AL HOSS. In conformity with the highly praised presidential message of November 98, the Government of Dr HOSS pledged to the preeminence of the rule of law and the strengthening of the Governmental institutions and committed to transparency and accountability in conducting public affairs. In his inaugural speech, the Prime Minister stated explicitly his intention to submit to Parliament approval a privatization law.

The legal system prevailing in Lebanon since its independence in 1943 is in the French tradition. It guarantees the private ownership of property, the free flow of goods and funds in and out of the country and the freedom of contract between parties. The Code of Obligations and Contracts, the Commercial Code and the Code of Money and Credit govern the basic day to day economic activity. After a stagnation due to 15 years of conflict, an active drive to reform and modernize the laws is underway in Parliament and through special committees formed by the Central Bank and the Ministry of Justice. A law protecting the Intellectual Property Rights has been edicted (June 99) and the Central Bank has been designated as Regulatory body for all e-banking activites (November 99). The privatization law has been submitted to Parliament and is now under discussion in specialized Commissions. A press declaration made by the Vice-President of the Commission of Finance on March 22, 2000 brought to the attention of the general public that the Commission agreed to the text of the privatization law presented by the Government with ‘appropriate modifications’. A full presentation of the dispositions of this law will be provided once the final text is published in the Official Gazette.

Put in a few words, the Lebanese Republic has always been a free market adept at allowing unrestricted mobility of capital, goods and persons as well as full currency convertibility. The state intervention in the economy was somehow minimal while retaining in some sectors a monopolistic position, especially so in the telecom sector.

The Government that took office in October 92 (first cabinet of Prime Minister HARIRI under President HRAWI) proclaimed a clear willingness to introduce structural reforms. These reforms, especially in the telecommunications sector, were deemed necessary and essential to generate substantial revenues through the development of the activities and services in and throughout all economic sectors. The idea of privatization was from time dealt with in political circles and in the press, but the public opinion was not mature enough to accept that formal proposals be transmitted by the Government to the Parliament in order to be discussed and approved to become a law.

In the public debate, the rhetoric about privatization lead to the distinction of the so-called "strategic privatization" and "imposed privatization".

The first form of privatization has the effect of strengthening the financial capacity and flexibility of a national public operator whose situation is already satisfactory. Privatization of this kind facilitates agreements and alliances with worldwide operators. It leads to greater transparency in the management of financial and human resources since the State no longer plays the part of the all-powerful shareholder whose decisions have to be approved whatever form they take.

The second form of privatization is to be considered when the financial and management situation of the public operator is already seriously eroded. In this case, privatization is adopted as the lesser of two evils and can therefore be regarded as imposed by the circumstances.

Given the lack of consensus on this topic between the Government on the one hand and the Parliament and the public on the other, the BOT scheme was considered the best way to move forward. Even this scheme went through a hot public debate. Because of its novelty, it has to take into account the social and cultural peculiarities of the general public and in particular their perception of the role of the state in conducting economic affairs.

2.1. Ministries in charge of the telecommunications issues

As a matter of fact, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) is the sole and only authority deciding in matters relating to telecommunications. This Ministry is composed of three general directorates. The General Directorate of Posts, the General Directorate of Procurement and Equipment and the General Directorate of Management and Maintenance. In each directorate, the highest decision maker being the general director under the authority of the Minister in charge.

• Provides information on investment in Lebanon and incentives available to private investors.
• Assists private investors, including setting up private corporations for investment in Government- sponsored projects.
• Offers technical assistance in the form of site location for industrial projects.
• Coordinates public and private programs to develop important sectors in the Lebanese economy.
• Develops Government sponsored projects open to private investment ( BOT, BOO, and other financing schemes ).
• Manages free-trade and industrial zones.

IDAL is managed and staffed by a team of service-oriented professionals, with experience in the private and public sectors, who understand issues related to investment and economic development. In order to facilitate the foreign direct investment in Lebanon, IDAL implemented in February a One-Stop-Shop organization.

2.2. National regulatory authorities

Presently in Lebanon, the national regulatory authority is the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. The distinction between the operational function and the regulatory function is not yet established. The draft law of privatization now under discussion in Parliament is providing for such distinction. However, if we consider the political system structure as established by the Taïf Agreement, any Ministry is under the control of the

Council of Ministers which is the supreme executive body. It is assumed that whatever decision is taken within this Council, it will be implemented. For some issues related to the telecom activity, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Economy and Commerce are consulted in matters like privacy and consumer protection.

The Ministry of Information is the regulatory authority regarding radio and TV broadcasting. The authority of this Ministry is based on a recent Audio-Visual Media Information Law (AVIL). Under the provisions of this law most of the 40 or so wartime stations were closed down from 1994 onwards. From this, two major consequences can be drawn. Firstly, it officially ended the nominal monopoly of the national TV, Tele-Liban. Secondly, by issuing a limited number of broadcasting licences, the Government claimed it would insure the commercial viability as well as the quality of stations.

Presently there are five terrestrial stations four of which have secured channels through satellites.

• Tele-Liban;
• The Lebanese Broadcasting Company (LBC);
• Murr Television (MTV);
• Future Television;
• National Broadcasting Network (NBN).

It is to be noted that each of these stations is partly owned by a prominent political figure, as if the law, according to its critics in Parliament, has been designed to secure an oligopolistic position.

Digital television , currently revolutionizing the broadcasting industry in the world is not yet in operation in Lebanon though seriously considered by the LBC and Future Television.

The same AVIL law is regulating the radio broadcasting. It has rationalized the number of stations operating on the medium and FM wave lengths.

2.3 Frequencies allocation authorities

The allocation of frequencies is a competence of the MPT alone. This Ministry has within its staff the expertise to do so. But for national security reasons, this allocation has to be approved by an expert body pertaining to the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Interior. Concerning the radio and television broadcasting, the aforementioned AVIL law in regulating the distribution of frequencies.

The laws governing this protection are being amended, updated and modernised by special Commissions in the Parliament to match the modern standards in this respect. New laws or old amended laws are expected to be voted during the coming months.

2.4. Consultative Councils

As a general rule, consultative Councils are bodies composed of experts from within or outside the administration designated for a special mission on an ad hoc basis. Some bodies are more formally constituted however as is the case with the recently instated National Council for Information, whose members are by half designated by the Government, the other half being elected by the Parliament.

A High National Committee for Information Technologies is now under constitution according to a press declaration of the Minister of Economy (29^th of March).

2.5. Public telecommunication operators

In Lebanon, there has been, traditionally, only one public telecommunication operator: the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. However, some activities were sporadically subcontracted to non public bodies. OGERO, previously presented is such an example.

The Lebanese Government departed from this monopolistic position in the early nineties when it considered awarding the cellular (GSM) system to be implemented to two private operators on a BOT basis:

• France Telecom Mobile Liban – FTML (Cellis) a joint venture between France Telecom Mobile International (66,7%) and a group of local investors (33,3%).
• Libancell, a joint venture between Telecom Finland (14%) and a group of local investors (86%).

Both companies have developed Digital Nervous Systems connecting private microwave links, Wide Area Networks – WAN, Intranet and Internet infrastructures. Both companies introduced the roaming service since 1997 with approximately 80 live operators in 65 countries

The implementation of these two GSM projects brought into play international companies supplying the equipment: FTML got it from Ericsson, Alcatel and Siemens, while Libancell got it from Siemens and Motorola.

The terms of the BOT agreement stipulate that both operators are granted a ten year licence (extensible to 12 years). The present Government seems unsatisfied with the financial conditions of the contract and is reported by the press to be putting pressure on the two operators to get better conditions. This position is openly presented by Minister NAAMAN in press conferences and in occasional formal speeches.

Due to the traditional openness of the Lebanese economy, the telecom system had to be linked to similar systems in the neighbouring countries. Agreements exist between Lebanon and Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Cyprus. Lebanon has also signed all international agreements as would any member of the ITU do.

Thanks to these agreements, many improvements in international connections have been implemented through companies with international credentials: fiber optic submarine link between Lebanon and Cyprus (AT&T), digital microwave link between Beirut and Damascus-Syria (Siemens), fiber optic network linking Alexandria–Egypt to Tartous-Syria to Tripoli-Lebanon to Beirut and Saïda (Alcatel Submarcom).

4.1. Historical overview

Since the early 1980s many western countries considered seriously moving towards a privatized scheme in the telecommunications sector. Many Asian countries have also done so in the late 1980s.

Although the traditional official stance of the Lebanese Government has been towards state monopoly in the telecommunications activity, some early breaches are now nearly thirty years old.

In 1968, the state monopoly was breached when a semi-private company was created and obtained the licence to maintain the marine cables. This Société de Développement des Télécommunications du Liban (SODETEL) was incorporated with a capital owned by the Government of Lebanon (50%), by France Cable et Radio (40%) and by Italy’s ITALCABLE (10%). Then came a period of inaction during the war, until 1991, when the US firm MCI was licensed to build an Intelsat satellite earth station for voice and fax communication, the licence was granted to MCI on a BOT basis.

Again in 1996, the MPT put forward a project for the creation of a public entity to be called Liban-Telecom. This new entity would be in charge of the investment and the maintenance of the equipment. Tariffs for different services would be set by the MPT but the entity would enjoy financial and administrative autonomy in order to avoid bureaucratic inefficiency.

4.2. Present general legislation

There has been much debate concerning the privatization issue in Lebanon. Not all arguments exchanged between pros and cons are ideology-free. The fact is however that, facing a persistent public finance deficit and consequently a huge public debt, the present Government is considering privatization to be one way out, even if not sufficient by itself, of this financial turmoil. The Government now in office has promised to go ahead with the privatization once the legal framework has been set in accordance with rules and standards sought from the international bodies of expertise.

Article 3 is defining the new extent of authority of the Minister of P&T. He will be responsible for setting the policy framework in all its aspects and submitting it to the Council of Ministers. In particular he proposes the names of the president and members of the body that will take over from the MPT the responsibility of regulating the telecom sector.

Articles 4, 5 and 6 of the draft presents this new regulatory body along with its attributes, prerogatives and mandate. Specifically, this body will (art.5) :

1. Propose decrees and regulations to be implemented according to this new law;
2. Implement these regulations once edicted according to proper procedures;
3. Promote competition in the telecom sector;
4. Grant licences to companies willing to operate in the sector;
5. Regulate the interconnection and oversee the rules and conditions of interconnection;
6. Advise the Minister on the best ways to allocate frequencies;
7. Devise technical norms and oversee their implementation by the operators;
8. Set and collect rates and fees to be imposed on the operators;
9. Prevent any non-competitive policy among the operators;
10. Liaise with concerned Ministries to promote education and health through telecommunications.

Finally, this authority is requested to publish an annual report that has to be submitted to the Council of Ministers by the end of March, every year.

In this draft also is presented the basic structure of the national operator Liban-Telecom that could be privatized according to the forthcoming law.

4.3. Key legislative measures

The will of the Government to modernize the Public Administration is taking shape slowly. Besides the laws that have recently been voted, two main pieces are under consideration that could drastically change the legal environment of the economic activity: the law of privatization and the law on telecommunications. In the meantime, the Commission for modernising the law system is considering some proposition to be submitted to Parliament for discussion.

4.4. Issues

4.4.1. Liberalisation

The issue of liberalisation seems to be settled as more and more emphasis is put on its benefits to the economy by the political leaders. They consider mainly that the liberalisation of telecommunication services is recommended in order to stimulate economic growth and to facilitate the socio-economic integration.

However, their decision to introduce reforms required for liberalisation would not be taken until serious studies have been made to determine the most effective means applicable to each particular case, and to evaluate the different impacts these reforms might have on the population, the level of employment, the financial revenues perceived by the Government etc...

The government of Dr Salim El HOSS that took office in december 1998 presented to the public opinion a clear idea of its intention regarding the privatization issue. The ministerial declaration before Parliament in early 1999 gave to think that there was a broad consensus on the principle of privatization and that the Government would be able to move ahead swiftly.

The initial idea was to carry out the programme in two parts: The first part covering 1999-2000, and the second covering 2001-2003. The telecommunications sector and the electricity sector were the first candidates for this transformation.

Concerning the telecom sector in particular, an ambitious plan was presented to the Government by the consultancy firm Deloitte & Touch. This firm was conducting studies on restucturing and reorganizing the telecom sector since 1994 with a financing from the World Bank. According to the project submitted, a draft law for privatization was expected to be approved by early 2000. A policy paper defining the privatization strategy, including the regulatory and legal framework, was expected by july 2000. The establishment of an independent regulatory authority was expected by june 2000.

The situation does not seem however to evolve according to this plan. The complexity of the issue, the lack of political consensus and the burden of the Middle-East peace negotiations process on the Lebanese economic situation could explain the slow progress in this matter.

The present situation is reflected in the following table.

4.4.2. Licensing

As a general rule a licence can be granted for the exploitation of parts of the public network. This will be frequently in practice once a specific law will set the framework for a given activity. This is the case for the TV networks licensed to operate on the Lebanese territory. The draft law on telecommunications is giving this authority to the regulatory body that will be created.

4.4.3. Universal Services

The public operator is by definition bound to serve everybody everywhere on the national territory. A private operator licensed for a given service can however be restricted to some area (electricity network). In the telecom sector a national coverage has been imposed to the GSM operators. The draft law that was presented previously is explicitly considering the universal service along with the related conditions of application in article 26.

4.4.4. Tariffs policy

This aspect is not fully liberalised yet. The MPT has its say on the tariff issue in as far as the financial revenues of the budget are affected. In the draft law previously mentioned, the issue of tarification is treated in art. 28. It is clearly stated that the operators, under usual conditions, will be allowed to set prices according to market conditions. In case the law is adopted without modifications, the prices could drop significantly. Indeed, on many occasions, especially in press conferences, Minister NAAMAN presently in charge, gave to think that tariffs could be expected to fall in the near future.

4.4.5. Quality of service

This service is usually under the control of the operator. The MPT has the right to oversee the quality control implementation. This has been explicitly stated in the draft law where the regulatory authority will take care of this issue by setting the criteria and overseeing the implementation.

4.4.6. Interconnection

Presently under the control of the MPT, interconnection will be an issue when, by virtue of the expected law, there will be more than one network provider on the market. In provision of this situation, the draft law on telecommunications has a full article (art.30) dedicated to this question. Of course, once again, setting the rules and overseeing their good implementation is an attribution of the regulatory body.

Freedom is a right guaranteed by the Lebanese constitution. It has always been enjoyed on a large scale by all nationals and other residents on the territory. The law on the telecommunications will undoubtedly add a peace for a better protection through well defined and practical procedures.

5.1. Copyright and intellectual property

A law has recently been adopted by the Parliament protecting copyright and intellectual property. This law became effective early June 1999 and is deemed to serve the economic interest of all parties engaged in production and commerce.

Historically, the Intellectual Property Rights legislation goes back to the time of the French Mandate between World War I and World War II. But since the military conflict that prevailed fifteen years in the country, from 1975 till 1989, it fell into obsolescence and disuse.

The new law voted recently (June 99) updated somewhat the old text and brought also many new dispositions relating to the field of the new technologies.

The Lebanese public opinion is not in its entirety favorable to the law, though the Government and the majority of Members of Parliament are seeing the long term advantages of having such legislation. The principal fear is from international bodies, especially the WTO, which could isolate Lebanon from the international community, thus depriving the country of any possible benefit in case of trade sanctions. Moreover, the IPR legislation is undoubtedly a precondition for WTO accession and a central part of the Euromed negotiation that will help to secure more bilateral and multilateral aid, as well as securing fair and normal trade relationships. Under the present law, the Department responsible for Intellectual Property Rights protection offers some basic services as:

• Registration/ Cancellation/ Transfer/ Licencing of a Trademark;
• Registration/ Cancellation/ Transfer of an invention patent;
• Validation/ Certification and publication of official documents concerning trademarks and patents;
• Maintaining an official register for all transactions done with holders of IPR.

5.2. Privacy, data protection, consumer protection

Legally, consumer protection is within the attributions of the Ministry of Commerce. It concerns basically matters related to consumer prices and quality of goods. No specific laws have been edicted yet concerning data protection and privacy, apart from basic statements provided by the Constitution. However the draft law previously cited tackle this issue explicitly. Article 13 is making clear reference to the protection of privacy and of personal information.

5.3. Electronic protection, legal protection and security

Specific laws are under consideration thanks to the efforts of the Chambers of Commerce who are pushing for a piece of legislation concerning encryption and decryption. Obviously, adopting such legislation would legalize the digital signature and would certainly facilitate the extension of electronic commerce.

5.4. Freedom of expression and information:

Lebanon has always been known as a land of freedom. The country has in its Constitution specific and explicit dispositions concerning these fundamental rights. The law regulating the audiovisual media has been criticized, however, as putting limitations on the TV-broadcasting programs. The official position is claiming that these limitations are meant to moderate critical thinking and libertarian production that could reach conservative neighbouring Arab countries.

6.1. Umbrella policies

The basic trends in the Lebanese society towards being an information society are obvious. The open-mindedness of the population, its cultural openness on the world, gives it the ability to acquire and accept the modernity in every day life. New technologies spread easily even within somehow economically disadvantaged groups. The rate of literacy is high and mastery of more than one language is very common. Educated adults are usually tri-lingual: Arabic, French and English.

6.2. IS application areas

As a result of the political action of the Government towards the modernisation of the administration, many decisions have been taken, that fall under the Information Society diverse aspects.

6.2.1. Government

The Government is pushing forward for a better efficiency in the administration, less bureaucracy and greater transparency. With the help of international organisations, reform programs are undertaken that call for the implementation of advanced practices and modern technologies. Computers and telecommunications are efficiently used in some public offices to handle paperless work and get efficient results.

According to OMSAR sources < www.omsar.gov.lb >, the Government has set up a strategic plan to guide its action in promoting the information technology and society. The key strategies of this plan consist of:

• Setting the framework. The objective is to get substantial benefits, both economic and social, through the effective use of information technology. The Government is committed to provide leadership by putting structures and mechanism in place to facilitate accession to leading-edge technology through a national IT policy.
• Rehabilitating and reforming Government services. The objective of the Government is to introduce IT to transform the delivery of its services to citizens and to provide world class services that compare favorably with the best available in the competitive private sector.
• Modernizing Government Administration. The long civil strife in Lebanon left the country with no "legacy environment" as to the technology installed. This is making it easier to operate a modernization using a policy of "buy not build" or "buy and adapt" wherever feasible.
• Building a national information highway. The information highway is a vision of a seamless high capacity network that is capable of carrying voice data text and image traffic to all those connected. To this end a Wide Area Network project is already underway in OMSAR in its first stage. A number of network initiatives have been proposed in some other departments (Ministry of Finance, Central Bank).
• Developing the IT industry in Lebanon. It is certainly a main catalyst for restructuring business and Government systems. The Government is taking the opportunity to encourage the development of the IT industry by making greater use of the local industry in its application of the IT and in establishing a business friendly climate that enables the local industry to develop.
• Education and learning. This action is meant to ensure that Lebanese citizens are not disadvantaged in the information age and that they have the necessary skills to participate in the work force. This action implies an overall strategy for education and the implementation of a national IT education system in partnership with the IT and services industry.
• Information services. These services will be developed for economic and social sectors and will aim to build on the communications infrastructure to make available services to the community.

6.2.2. Education

New technologies are now implemented and used at different levels in the universities. The extension of the link to the schools has yet to be promoted. International organisations are offering support to make this networking happen in the near future. The private sector schools are well in advance in this respect over the public sector schools. A recent decision taken by the Council of Ministers in October 1999 gave a local organization < www.cartage.org.lb > permission to establish a network dedicated to teaching basic topics at the secondary level. The project is presently at its early stages.

6.2.3. Transport

The transport sector is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Special programs to enhance the productivity of this sector are implemented with the assistance of international bodies. Some mergers are being witnessed in the air transport field.

6.2.4. Medicine

Tele-medicine is not yet in practice and medical databases are only considered on a small scale. Visio conferencing are used however when medical seminars are held in Lebanon with participants from abroad (especially US).

A very important turning point in the official attitude concerning the future of the telecommunications sector has been revealed by the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications and reported by the National Agency on the 31st of May 1999.

The Minister’s declaration followed a strategic workshop held from the 27th to the 29th of May under the patronage of the Prime Minister on the subject: "What future for the telecom sector". At this workshop international consultants (Deloitte and Touch) as well as high ranking representatives from the concerned Ministries and also from the World Bank were present. It is worth noting that this is the first time that such an event is organised to evaluate and discuss different scenarios concerning the telecom with the help and participation of various concerned parties.

Four basic recommendations were cited in this respect:

• The Lebanese telecommunication market has to be fully liberalised by the end of year 2002. The participants, while recognising the necessity of opening up this sector to competition, are insisting that this could not be done unless appropriate rules and regulations are set up. There also was a general agreement on the fact that the success of the operation implies the existence of a well-structured and competitive National Operator.

• The entire regulatory framework has to be set up by the end of 1999. This will imply the provision for a regulatory authority and the setting up of a National Operator.

• The regulatory authority will be set up by June 2000. This will be an independent authority overseeing the implementation of efficient and fair competition so as to promote the telecom sector and preserve the Lebanese interests.

• The creation of a national operator partially privatised during the year 2000. The main idea behind partial privatization is to have strategic associations with expert companies that could boost the efficiency and the competitiveness of the National Operator.

Now that enough time has elapsed since then, one can say that the promises have been kept as to the principle but unfortunately, the Government seems to be falling behind the announced schedule. None of the above-mentioned steps could be realized. The privatization law will be voted for sure in the very near future but the law on the telecommunications has yet a long way to go. It should be reminded that Lebanon is expecting to run for legislative elections in early summer.

The different Ministries, especially Economy and Tourism, are paying more attention to using the Internet to provide relevant and useful information. The two sites <www.economy.gov.lb> and <www.tourism.gov.lb>

have been completely reshuffled. The site of the Ministry of Economy is giving the business community, especially the exporters, the opportunity to register in a database in order to have more visibility on the worldwide market. On this same site mention is made of two Governmental projects: ‘Govnet’ and ‘Schoolnet’ but no details are available till now.

It is worth remembering that the Central Bank of Lebanon (BDL < www.bdl.gov.lb > ) is expecting a rapid development of e-banking in the financial sector. This expectation lead the Government to provide BDL with a law extending its regulatory authority in this respect.

Within the context of encouraging investments in Lebanon, the Government approved a draft law to create a Media Free Zone in the country. The Zone is meant to attract investments into advertising, information technology, cinema, television, radio and theater. The law provides a range of incentives and tax exemptions to prospective companies and will help create local jobs. The Investment Development Authority of Lebanon IDAL and the United States Agency for International Development will Commission a feasibility study for the project to be tentatively completed in April.

What is remarkable also concerning the private sector is the booming of applications of electronic commerce. Especially during the month of March new sites are promoting their services through extensive advertising campaigns. Two companies seem to have established themselves as providers of e-commerce solutions: <www.netways.com> and <www.arachnea.com>.

At a more integrated level, the local market witnessed the emergence of a recent venture between a leading banking institution (Crédit Libanais SAL < www.creditlibanais.com.lb > ) and a leading Internet Service Provider (Data Management SAL < www.dm.net.lb >). This new venture took the commercial name of Netcommerce SAL and launched its operations in January < www.netcommerce.com.lb >.

It makes no doubt that this venture, through Netcommerce SAL, will open new horizons to Lebanese businesses by promoting their products over the worldwide market. Netcommerce SAL is also offering a package of high-tech services with a sophisticated billing system through international networks as Visa Card, MasterCard, American Express, Diners and Cashless. It says the system works automatically and is ‘connected real-time on-line through the Virtual Mall’.

The e-banking activity is also confirming its presence more and more on the market. Systems developed for and by international banking institutions are being implemented in siter-banks in Beirut or in subsidiaries operating on the place. Banque Nationale de Paris is offering a system developed for all its branches around the world. A demonstration for the business community has taken place on the 28^th of March.

Beirut seems to be attracting also international Internet operators. PSINet Inc., one of the world largest Internet Service Providers and an Internet Super Carrier, announced its entrance into the Lebanese and Middle East markets with the acquisition of New Com SAL, a local ISP. New Com, also operating under the name of Lynx < www.lynx.net.lb > is the fifth largest ISP in Lebanon and serves businesses and consumers with dial-up connectivity, as well as web hosting capabilities. According to PSINet’s regional director, Beirut’s role as a banking and financial center and the attractiveness of the Lebanese market were major factors in the firm’s decision to use Lebanon as a base for its expansion. It is assumed that New Com’s integration into PSINet global network will provide the local customers access to PSINet’s full portfolio of dial-up and dedicated connectivity services, as well as value-added services, including electronic commerce, web hosting, global roaming, Intranet and security services.