The policy of STE has been to grant telecommunications services to the public in accordance with the government policy, which stresses the monopoly of the state in areas related to the telecommunications infrastructure ownership and basic telecom services. During 1999, the government has introduced mobile telephony, which became available and operational by mid-February 2000, with the help of two international (private) companies that offered to install the GSM stations and operate them at no initial cost to STE.

Actual introduction of the Internet in Syria was carried out by STE, with an initial focus on governmental and educational institutions. Through a pilot project, there is currently a limited international IP connection and Internet service that are available to some governmental institutions. In addition, Internet services have become available to some businesses and professionals (such as doctors and lawyers) through a small ISP set up by STE. This service has become saturated with about 2000 Internet users and 1500 email users and is being expanded to double its capacity by the end of March 2000. The government's policy is to extend the full Internet services to a wider population after building the necessary infrastructure (Internet Backbone) and allowing private ISPs, which should become a reality by the end of 2000.

The regulatory and policy making authority in charge of telecommunications issues is the Ministry of Communications, which was established in Syria as a separate ministry in 1958 (Decree 192). Its role concerns essentially telecommunications politics. In addition, two separate ministries, the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Culture, are in charge of publishing information for public consumption.

The Ministry of Culture was established in 1958 by Presidential Decree (dated 26/6/1958) with an aim to improve the cultural level of the public and to provide the necessary environment for the development of art and intellectual openness to local and international cultures. This ministry supervises all cultural centres in Syria, whether local or foreign, theatres, movies, museums and libraries.

There is no separate regulator, nor are there plans to create a regulatory authority. STE is however responsible for regulatory issues regarding communication services such as numbering, tariff proposals, technical standards, service quality, etc. The Ministry of Information is responsible for regulatory issues regarding all information dissemination including radio and television broadcasting.

In all cases the Council of Ministers is the higher authority of the State that approves the various regulatory activities.

STE handles frequency allocation for wireless telephony communications, while the Ministry of Information handles all broadcasting frequency allocation. There is no cable TV in Syria.

Founded in 1958 (Law 21), the Ministry of Industry supports the private sector, protects local production, and provides advantages and exemptions to develop industrial activities. It also provides numerous services, consultancy, data and statistics for investors. In addition, it makes policies to encourage investment in the industrial private sector and to develop existing industries. However, no separate office for protection of economic competition exists in Syria.

There are several consultative councils in various ministries, e.g., the Consultative Councils of the Ministry of Information, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, and the Ministry of Education. All these consultative councils study whatever issues requested by the Minister and present reports to them.

STE is the state-owned national operator that provides exclusively all telecommunications services. It was established in 1975 as a result of the split of the Post and Telecommunications Establishment into two establishments: one for postage and the other for telecommunications. Decree 1935 gives STE the monopoly for all forms of wired and wireless communications in Syria, including studies, planning, project implementation and operation. It also gives STE the privilege of representing Syria in Arab and International Telecommunications Unions. Decree 1936 of 1975 created the Syrian Post Establishment and defined its aims as providing all postal services and representing Syria in Postal Unions at the Arab, Regional and International levels. This same decree abolishes the Syrian Post and Telecommunications Establishment.

STE provides the following services to the public: telephone, fax data transmission, payphone, value added services, Internet, E-mail. It also operates a number of satellite-to-earth stations (Arabsat, Intelsat, and Intersputnik) and owns the telecommunications infrastructure in the country, including cables, telephone switches and telecommunication links with satellites.

Private companies may operate some services such as payphones and, soon, GSM stations. They remain, however, under STE's supervision and are bound to the terms of a specific contract with the state-owned establishment.

Syria was an original Member of the United Nations (since 24 October 1945). Following a plebiscite on 21 February 1958, the United Arab Republic was established by a union of Egypt and Syria and continued as a single Member. On 13 October 1961, Syria, having resumed its status as an independent State, resumed its separate membership in the United Nations.

STE is a member of the Arab Permanent Telecommunications Commission (APTC) of the League of Arab States and other international organisations, such as ITU (International Telecom Unit), Intelsat, Arabsat, and Intersputnik. STE also joins the GSM Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) of the European Union and International GMPCS.

The Syrian Arab Standardisation and Metrology Organisation (SASMO) was established in 1969 (Decree 248) and put under the supervision of the Ministry of Industry. Its aims include defining, promoting, disseminating and modifying the national standards and specifications. It represents Syria in the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO); a non-governmental organisation established in 1947 to promote the development of standardisation and to relate activities in the world.

The Ministry of Industry also participates in agreements involving the private sector with the following parties: Syrian-European Partnership, Free Arab Trade Area and Syrian-Lebanese Co-operation. These are also the responsibility of the Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade.

Telecommunications has always been a state monopoly in Syria. Prior to the creation of STE as a separate telecommunications entity, there was the Public Establishment of Post and Communications (PEPC), which handled matters related to communications. Presidential Decrees 1935 and 1936 (dated 10/7/1975) separated the postal services from the telecommunications services by creating two establishments and by abolishing the PEPC.

The first establishment, STE, has monopoly over all forms of wired and wireless communications, including studies, planning, implementation and operation of projects related to communications. It represents Syria in all regional and international federations and signs agreements related to telecommunications. The second establishment, the Post Establishment, has monopoly over all forms of postal services and money transfer related to these services. It represents Syria in all postal federations at the regional and international levels and signs agreements related to postal services.

The current legislation regarding telecommunications, based on Decree 1935 of 1975, gives STE the monopoly over all telecommunications infrastructure, including conventional voice telephony lines, submarine lines and satellite communications. STE is the only institution that can build and operate telecommunications infrastructures. It can, however, delegate the operation of certain facilities to private (national or international) companies under contract. It can also enter into joint ventures with national or international companies on a revenue-sharing basis.

In addition, the law of 1951 (Law No. 68 of 18 January 1951), which created the Public Directorate of Radio Broadcasting, governs broadcasting. Under this law, private broadcasting is forbidden, and all decisions about broadcasting are taken by the Prime Minister. This has changed in 1961 when the Ministry of Information was established (Decree 186) and the Radio and Television Broadcasting body put under its supervision. Cable TV is non-existent in Syria; thus there are no laws governing it.

STE is the monopoly provider, and there are no plans to privatise or liberalise the sector. Some communications services, however, are not under STE’s monopoly (see table below).

Liberalisation is coming in small steps with Law 10 of 1991 and its amendments, which encourage investment of foreign capital and guarantee security and tax exemption. New ventures are open to the private sector, whether in the form of joint ventures with the public sector (for basic national sectors) or for solely private companies.

STE monopolises the ownership and operations of conventional voice telephony and data transmissions lines. It also holds the right for GSM licensing.

STE owns and holds the right to operate Internet infrastructure. So far, STE also monopolises ISP services, and private companies need a licence from STE to operate such services. Such a licence will only be given when the Internet national backbone becomes operational (by the end of 2000). Only SCS has obtained a special licence to operate its ISP to serve its members earlier. Such a service is expected to start by June 2000.

Two private companies (InvestCom and SyriaTel) have been licensed to install GSM stations in two major cities, Damascus and Aleppo, within the framework of a pilot project that comprises 60,000 lines. The necessary equipment has been bought from Ericsson and Siemens, the two major suppliers of telephony infrastructure in the country. STE has not paid for this pilot project but is marketing, and setting and collecting fees for, the project. The two investment companies, which have covered all costs and are operating the GSM stations, hope to get into some form of partnership with STE for this project and future expansions to cover the whole country. After one year of operation, a call for tender will be made to expand the GSM network to cover the entire Syria. Whoever will win the tender will have to buy from InvestCom and SyriaTel the pilot installations. The marketing campaign has not been successful so far since the fees are high (1200 Euros for installation, 20 Euros monthly fee and 0.08-0.15 Euros per minute). After one month, only about 2,000 GSM lines have been purchased, although the monthly rate has been reduced from 50 to 20 Euros two weeks after launching the service.

Radio and TV is monopolised by the Public Agency for Radio and Television, which is supervised by the Ministry of Information. No cable TV exists in Syria and nothing is planned in this respect.

Universal service provisions apply to telex, data transmission, fax and public payphone. These provisions are self-financed by STE.

Voice telephony is available in most regions in the country. Data transmission through an X.25 network (Syriapac) is available in all cities and major towns.

Currently there are about 9 conventional telephone lines for 100 inhabitants. This ratio will increase to 20% within the next two years. Network digitisation ratio is currently about 80% and will reach 95% within the next two years.

A national Digital Data Network has been implemented and constitutes one step towards building a backbone for all wired telecommunications in Syria. Its expansion with a Frame Relay X.25 ATM Network is currently underway. A first call for tender has been cancelled for procedural reasons, and a new call is expected soon.

A pilot Internet project (dial-up connection) was started in 1997 for selected institutions and government agencies and ministries. It has been successful and shows the need for a wider scale system including all services that are available at the international level. During September 1999 the Internet SY domain has been fixed. International IP connection and internet services have been extended by STE to the private and public business sectors as well as some professionals, but not to individuals because of limited capacity. This service has quickly become saturated with about 2000 Internet users and 1500 email users, and is being expanded to double its capacity by the end of March 2000. STE will continue its control over the Internet in Syria by building and operating the national backbone of the network, followed by licensing of private ISPs.

A Paging pilot project was put in service in the Damascus region during July 1999. Given the small number of lines (5000), the project is currently limited to institutions and personnel that need it more urgently than others (e.g. hospitals, doctors, etc.). The project will be extended to cover the country during 2000.

Radio and TV broadcasting covers the whole country, and STV, the Syrian Television Agency, has three national TV channels, two local channels and one international channel (through satellite). There are no private TV stations and no cable TV.

STE is responsible for tariff proposal, which then has to be approved by the Ministry of Communications followed by the Council of Ministers. No specific period is set for tariff review, nor is there a clear policy in this regard; but STE follows the general trends in tariffs, keeping the local and national communications at an affordable level (lower than comparable tariffs in other countries). Since there is no competition, international communications are comparable and often higher than international rates.

Cost of acquiring a telephone line varies, depending on the type (residential or commercial), existence of lines at location and on speed at which the service is needed. The cost ranges from 110 Euros to about 900 Euros. Yearly fixed subscription rate is about 8 Euros for residences and 24 Euros for non-residential subscribers. Local calls cost 0.012 Euro per period of 3 minutes, and regional calls can reach a maximum of 0.9 Euro per minute (depending on distance). International calls vary between 0.3 Euro per minute to Lebanon and 2 Euros to the Far East.

Tariffs for the Internet are about 100 Euros for first time subscription, 24 Euros per year for email only subscription and 40 Euros per month for subscription in all Internet services, plus 0.04 Euro per minute of connection time for email and/or Internet access.

Tariffs for the paging system have been set to approximately 60 Euros for installation (fixed fee paid once) and 30 Euros per year.

The one time installation fee for the GSM subscription has been set to be nearly 1200 Euros. The monthly fee is 20 Euros, and each minute of communication costs between 0.08 and 0.15 Euro, depending on whether the call is destined to another GSM number or a fixed telephone number.

Being mainly a telephone company and given the current shortage in telephone lines, quality has much less importance than quantity. This should change with the increase in available lines and digitisation of services.

Internet service in the pilot project is nowhere near international standards. The network is overloaded, and the 512 kbps international leased line is barely sufficient. Also, the lack of technical expertise makes the downtime quite high. Although some improvement has been noticed in the quality of service with the increase in the capacity of the international leased line from 64 to 512 kbps, the downtime is still high (sometimes for several days) making the service unreliable.

With the maximum number of subscribers reached, new subscriptions in email or full Internet service was stopped. Expansion efforts are underway to double the capacity of the service with a financial contribution from Shell Petroleum Syria. Subscriptions are expected to become possible again in April 2000, but they will still be limited to businesses and some professionals (e.g., doctors and lawyers).

STE has submarine fibre optics links with Cyprus and Alexandria (via Beirut) as well as a link with FLAG (Fibre Link Around the Globe) to the UK. It also has links to Arabsat, Intelsat and Intersputnik.

The current (pilot) Internet network is based on the telephony network, i.e. dial-up only. Thus, no dedicated backbone exists. However, there are plans to build such a backbone in the near future. A leased line of 64 kbps to Amsterdam is used for this project. In September 1999 a 512 kbps link to Canada has been put in service thus constituting the new Internet connection to the international community.

A call for tender for the Frame Relay ATM X25 Network project has been cancelled after the evaluation was underway for procedural reasons and will be launched again soon. This planned network will cover the whole country and will be used by data communication services, including the Internet backbone.

A call for tenders was launched in September 1999 to provide an Internet backbone for the country as well as the necessary equipment to allow STE to become the main ISP in Syria serving the entire public sector. Its technical evaluation is practically completed, and contracting will follow by May 2000, with the implementation to be completed by November 2000.

Article 1 of Syria’s General Law of Printed Matter (1949) declares that "presses, bookshops and publications of all kinds are free and nothing limits their freedom except this law." The law covers mainly the regulations for establishing a printshop, licensing for publication, authors copyright protection and the regulatory aspects of professional journalists as well as their rights.

This law is still in effect and gives reasonable protection to authors within Syria, thus encouraging publication, while keeping the government in control of the contents. The Ministry of Information is responsible for checking on the fulfilment of this law.

A draft law is being discussed at the People's Assembly for intellectual property rights (IPR). SCS has been asked to make some remarks with respect to software authoring rights. The law has not been passed yet.

No significant laws are available on these subjects.

Currently, there are no laws governing the protection of electronic publishing in Syria. The IPR law being discussed at the People's Assembly is supposed to cover this aspect.

SCS has been working closely with the Government and other bodies in developing an overall Information Society policy. The main goals and policies of the SCS are:

• Offering educational, training, and lecture programs in information technologies and their applications.
• Organising conferences, symposia, exhibitions, and workshops with the collaboration of scientific and technical institutions, government organisations, and private sector companies including computer and software vendors.
• Providing support and counselling to various ministries, administrations, firms and organisations seeking to computerise their operations and management and decision-making procedures.
• Monitoring and evaluating the current status of information technology in Syria and assessing its future prospects in light of worldwide developments and trends.
• Actively promoting the introduction of information technologies on a national level, particularly those with a pervasive impact.
• Collaborating with the relevant ministries in the planning and implementation of programs for promoting nation-wide computer literacy and instituting information technology curricula and programs at the secondary school and university levels.
• Supporting research programs and activities in information technology, with particular emphasis on those related to Arabisation and computers, linguistics, Arabic software, and the consolidation of Arabic language standards in computers.
• Contributing to the elaboration and implementation of a national information technology policy.
• Planning and implementing a broad range of publicity programs and activities, in collaboration with the various national information media, with the purpose of nurturing and expanding public awareness of information technology and its applications.
• Elaborating appropriate accreditation schemes and implementation programs initially directed at information technology specialists and professionals, and at training institutes.
• Promoting the development and application of consumer protection schemes and programs.
• Supporting the growth and expansion of the national computer network in collaboration with the national communications establishments.
• Promoting regional and international co-operation programs and activities, which enhance national efforts to increase the rate of diffusion of information technology and applications in the national economy.
• Organising public relations programs and activities in support of SCS’s objectives and functions, including social events.
• Publishing and distributing pamphlets, booklets, proceedings, and original or translated works related to information technology and applications, including the SCS professional journal in Arabic, The Information Culture.
• Promoting co-operation among local computer and software companies directed at achieving SCS’s objectives.

The main pillars of the IS policies in Syria are computerisation of all government establishments and making the Internet available to all public institutions and businesses as a first priority and then to the public at large.

6.2.1 Government

The Syrian government promotes the computerisation of the public institutions and facilitates the acquisition of the necessary budget for hardware and software whenever the computerisation plan is seriously elaborated. Most of the projects are MIS projects that involve adhoc software development tailored to the needs of the various establishments and focused on administrative and managerial tasks. Networking and client-server architectures are becoming widespread. Lately, several public institutions started to build web sites, mostly abroad because of the lack of sufficient local Internet resources. Also ministries and government agencies are encouraged to computerise their systems and to keep it updated. Following are the main IS applications areas in various governmental establishments.

The Ministry of Finance has recently completed the computerisation of its backbone using LANs, WANs and distributed database technologies. The various modules will then be able to interact through this backbone. One important application (module) of the Ministry of Finance is the Real Estate Taxation System, which is used to emit and collect taxes on real estates in all governorates in Syria. All taxation centres are linked together using an X25 based WAN (Syriapac) and distributed databases. It has allowed the implementation of the progressive taxation regulations that were impossible to apply with the manual system. A simplification of the procedures for tax payment using on-line payment has been an important objective that has been realised through this system.

An important institution touching every working person in Syria, the Social Security Establishment (SSE), has computerised its services using available networking technologies and distributed databases during the past couple of years. Now that the system is almost completed, citizens feel clearly the difference between the two systems, with the improved services and the acceleration of procedures.

The Ministry of Education is also striving towards getting all information about schools, teaching personnel and students in Syria computerised using networking and distributed databases. This will permit more efficient planning and rationalisation of resources. The current centralised database is being developed towards that aim and links are being built to all directorates depending of the Ministry of Education in all of the country.

The Civil Register of Syria is still manual, using books. After carrying out a pilot project that demonstrated the feasibility and importance of its computerisation, the Ministry of the Interior is contracting with a private company to carry out the computerisation based on a distributed environment in two large registration offices: Damascus and Sweida. At a later stage it will expand the system to all registration offices (about 300) in the country. The complete data input and full computerisation will require approximately 10 years and will facilitate citizen's access to their civil registration records irrespective of their residency area.

The Agricultural Bank has started the implementation of a new system linking its four major branches (located in four different cities) with the Headquarters. The distributed system is based on a WAN and uses encryption in all transactions carried out within and between branches in order to achieve a high level of security. This permits branches to communicate between each other and to increase their efficiency in inter-branch banking operations and to improve their services to the clients.

The National Information Centre (NICE) has built an on-line service based on Internet technology to provide political and economic information about Syria. Accessible from within the country, this extranet requires a subscription that gives access to a databank on various political facets, a databank on economic and development aspects as well as to electronic publications of the Centre.

6.2.2 Research and education

In collaboration with the SCS, the Ministry of Education (in charge of schools in Syria) has developed the Syrian National Policy for Information Technology in Education in 1995. The policy describes the phase-in introduction of computer as a subject in the three school levels in the Syrian schools (elementary, middle and secondary schools). It also discusses building the teaching body and the curricula. The policy is currently being implemented in secondary schools and going on further to preparatory and then primary schools. It will take 10 years to complete the implementation of this strategy.

The Presidential Decree No. 152 of 1997 has been issued, introducing computers (IT) as a mandatory teaching subject to all departments and levels in the four Syrian universities (Damascus University, Aleppo University, Tishreen University, Al-Baath University). Decision No. 537 dated 27/1/1998 of the Council of Ministers formed a special implementation committee in charge of the task of supervising the teaching and acquisition of computers necessary for the execution of the Decree. The committee has contracted for 750 fully equipped multimedia PC's, laser printers and video projectors in order to start teaching in the second semester of the academic year 1997-1998. The number of computers acquired for the teaching of computer courses at the universities has increased to reach more than 1300 PCs in 1999.

The main research projects are carried out by the Higher Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology (HIAST) in collaboration with national and international institutions. Examples of such projects include:

• Learning Arabic using an IT-based communicative approach;
• Policies for the transfer of voice over IP;
• Text-to-speech system for Arabic.

6.2.3 Banks and other economic institutions

After a partial computerisation that took place during the past decade, banks are rebuilding their IT infrastructure in order to have an integrated system with all modern banking services and operations. The most advanced bank in this respect is the Real Estate Bank with services offered over the telephone and automatic payment of utility bills. Other banks are in the process of renewing their infrastructure such as the Commercial Bank of Syria, which handles most of the operations with foreign banks outside the country, and the Central Bank of Syria. Both currently have a European Union grant for modernising their capabilities and acquiring an integrated system including links between branches to form an Intranet. The Syrian Public Insurance Company has also a plan to renew its computing system (hardware and software) with expanded links to all its branches and offices all over the country.

The Syrian government has not made changes in the institutional structures governing telecommunications industries since 1975. STE is still the sole institution in charge of communications, and there is no indication that the State will stop its monopoly over these existing and emerging technologies. Its stated policy is clearly against privatisation of public establishments and companies. It is unclear, however, how the State will respond to the number of citizens gaining access to the Internet through ISPs in Lebanon. But the use of modems over telephone lines is considered illegal (if specific permission is not given), and STE has put up many advertisements in the local newspapers regarding this issue. Action may be forthcoming.

There are no plans for a total liberalisation of telecommunications services in the foreseeable future. Partial liberalisation is increasing especially in the operation of recently introduced services and in manufacturing telecommunications equipment. This is realised through partnership contracts with STE involving either national or international private companies.

One successful project has been the introduction of payphones in Syria, which has been implemented and is operated by a Syrian private company, under a form of partnership with STE. Several projects for manufacturing telephone switches have been enacted, but the most successful one is a joint venture with Samsung for the establishment of the Syrian-Korean Switch Company, which manufactures small PBXs and public switches with less than 1000 lines. These telephone exchanges are being used on a wide scale by the public sector, but also by the private sector.

The main policy and strategy in the long term of STE - as outlined in their Eighth Five Years Plan (1996 - 2000) were:

• (i) expansion of PSTN network to reach 3.3 million subscribers in 2002 and around 5 million subscribers in year 2005;
• (ii) expansion of new services network (Data networks, Internet, GSM, etc.);
• (iii) improvement of quality of services;
• (iv) more co-operation with Arab and Global telecommunications establishments; and
• (v) the introduction of GMPCS Services.

The process of telephone network expansion is being implemented mainly by Ericsson and Siemens, which will more than double the number of telephone lines capacity by 2002. A national Digital Data Network (DDN) is in the final stages of implementation and will be put to service by early 2000, thus constituting the digital communications backbone of the country. A project named Frame Relay ATM X25 network is in preparation as well as an Internet backbone and ISP project. All these activities are under the direct control of STE, which is supervised by the Ministry of Communications for all policy matters.

The technical evaluation of the bids to build a national Internet backbone is near completion, and contracting is expected by April 2000. This will allow private ISPs to get licences for building their services. SCS obtained a special licence to start an ISP for its members. This will be the first private ISP to operate, most probably by May 2000.

STE has started since August 1999 a campaign of cutting telephone lines for the illegal use of international telephone connections with Lebanon to access the Internet through Lebanese ISPs. The clients have to pay a fine the first time in order to restore their telephone line. The second time they lose the line altogether and have to apply again for a new one.

The Syrian government has made no moves to indicate that there will be privatisation of any of the media or telecommunications industries that it holds. It is certain that there will not be in the near future any private radio or television stations or a private telecommunications company that will compete with STE. In general, existing public structures are not going to be privatised in the foreseeable future, since the government's policy has always been clear on that matter. As a socialist state, Syria maintains that all basic infrastructures in the country should remain under the full control of the government. This applies not only to media and telecommunications, but also to water supply, power generation and distribution, etc.

With respect to new projects, "mixed" ownership (public and private shareholding) is very much encouraged. Communications cables and accessories are owned by private companies. Foreign investment is welcome in all sectors of the economy, including the telecommunications sector. Law number 10 of 1991 facilitates this investment and provides guaranties for investors as well as tax incentives by waiving all taxes for 5 to 7 years.

A decision has been taken by the government to allow private ISPs to be licensed by STE for providing Internet services. This will permit private ISP's to start their services once the backbone is implemented, which is expected by November 2000.

The first GSM service of nearly 60,000 lines has started on 14 February 2000. The implementation has been carried out by two companies (Ericsson and Siemens) that have been contracted by InvestCom and SyriaTel. Although STE, which holds the monopoly for telecommunications, offers the service, the operation is currently being handled by the respective companies with STE that remain in control of policies and subscriptions. This service is considered as a pilot project available in two cities only (Damascus and Aleppo) and their immediate vicinity. The expansion to the entire Syria will start in one year, after STE gains some experience in mobile telephony and can specify the requirements for the call for tender.

The major change in IS policy has been for the government to decide on moving ahead with the mobile telephony and the Internet in Syria.

The government has given directives to STE to accelerate the pace of Internet availability in a phased approach. The demands of the major public institutions should be satisfied together with those of the public and private business sector, and those of the individual citizens can be satisfied through private ISPs once the Internet backbone becomes ready.

In addition, the introduction of GSM services in Syria, planned by STE a few years ago, has been given the green light by the government and has entered into service in three cities in Syria. Two private companies, InvestCom and SyriaTel, have (independently) implemented the first (pilot) GSM project in Syria. It is operational since 14 February 2000 and will be operated by these companies for some time to come before STE decides on the status of these GSM stations and how to expand the network to cover all of Syria, probably through an international call for tender.

In general, ongoing changes in IS policy relate to more openness towards the latest communications technologies while keeping control over the implementation through regulations, with STE (the public telecommunications operator), thus keeping the monopoly for telecommunications infrastructure and basic public services.