Business

Lebanon telecom, Internet services subjected to 7 pct price hike

Lebanon’s council of ministers ratified a new decree on Thursday subjecting all telecom and Internet services to a 7 percent hike for individuals and a 5.6 percent hike for corporates. The new law replaces the previous rectification in June 2022.

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The establishment fee for a new landline will be 50,000 Lebanese lira (Ll), equivalent to $3. This fee includes services such as caller line identification, call waiting and call forwarding on demand.

Telecom revenues have nosedived in recent years, and the biggest cost component for the operators is the consumption of diesel to keep the power generators running, with the country’s economic meltdown plunging the nation into frequent blackouts for hours.

The ministry’s budget gets drained due to the high fuel cost of supplying power to the primary telecom exchangers – making the move toward more renewable energy sources crucial. The reliance on diesel generators for central phone stations is unsustainable and harmful to the environment. Using solar panels, batteries and wind generators will help provide clean and reliable energy sources, Saloum Dahdah, a telecom expert, told Al Arabiya English.
The challenge today is to keep a creaking telecom network up and running.

The 1$/3,900 LBP base pricing for a fixed broadband connection is not sustainable for Ogero, the private service provider. Meanwhile, the current low pricing has raised sustainability concerns while attracting many consumers. Experts believe that switching current subscription rates to closer-to-market US dollar tariffs, investment in fiber installations, introduction of value-added services and transition to renewable energy sources are essential steps towards a more sustainable future.

The conventional dollar rate has been pegged at 22,000 Lebanese pounds since 2022 when the latest decree on currency rate hike was issued. The new law will amend the monthly subscription fee applied since June 2014 to Ll200,000.

Breakdown of the price hikes

Local telephone calls made within the fixed telephone network are included in the monthly subscription up to 1,000 minutes. International Private Leased Circuits or IPLC will also be subject to the same percentage hike.
As far as internet subscription is concerned, it will revert to:
ADSL/VDSL/FTTC: Ll150,000, in addition to the cost of the final device.
HDSL: Ll500,000, in addition to the cost of the final device.
FTTH (Fiber optic): Ll750,000, in addition to the cost of the final device and the cost of the internal connections within the building.
FWA: Ll500,000, in addition to the cost of the final device.
Dedicated: Ll1,500,000, in addition to the cost of the final device.
Presently, telecom services will be equated at the rate of Lp25,000, instead of Lp89,000, in the parallel market, a source in the Ministry of Telecommunications, who requested anonymity, told Al Arabiya English. He added that the new hike will be insufficient to cover the deficit of Ogero, the local entity entrusted with the sector’s management.

The hike in tariff will need to be applied before the end of the year as more than 70 percent of Ogero’s financial needs — international bandwidth, imports of spare parts and licenses to support contracts — are paid in dollars. At such low rates, covering operational costs and maintaining a high-quality service becomes challenging.

Mobile data speed in Lebanon

Lebanon is ranked 68th out of 100 countries in terms of mobile data speed, with an average of 31 Mbps. In June 2022, the country was in the 103rd position with only 17 Mbps of speed.

One of the critical areas that require immediate attention is augmenting the fiber optic infrastructure across the country, Dahdah said. Lebanon should prioritize the swift installation of fiber networks to meet the demands of consumers and businesses alike. He further said that implementing an acceptable fee for fiber connectivity, which is commonplace worldwide, will help fund the necessary infrastructure development without compromising on quality.

While the telecom sector faces its unique challenges, it is essential to acknowledge that broader reforms are necessary for the country.

Economic fluctuations, corruption and discrepancies in public sector salaries contribute to the complex issues impacting the telecom industry. Addressing these challenges requires a comprehensive approach involving collaboration between various stakeholders and governmental bodies.

However, a hike in telecom tariff also means that a big chunk of the population, whose real wages have nosedived with the plummeting currency rate, can’t afford their phones, which are used for essential daily communication.

To enhance revenue streams and improve customer experience, Ogero can introduce value-added services such as triple play, which combines internet, television and telephone services. Establishing a national Internet Exchange (IX) will also significantly improve the Quality of Service (QoS) for Internet users in Lebanon, Dahdah advised.

He added that an IX facilitates faster and more efficient data exchange between internet service providers, resulting in improved internet speeds and cost-cutting.

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Business

Almarai signs multiple agreements to localize jobs through training and recruitment programs

Almarai signed a cooperation memorandum with the Food Industries Polytechnic, the
Transport General Authority, and the Saudi Logistics Academy to localize jobs in the
food and beverages sector through training and rehabilitation programs ending in
employment. This came within the first international conference on the labor market,
organized by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development on 13 – 14
December 2023 at the King Abdulaziz Convention Center in Riyadh.

‘These agreements are part of Almarai’s corporate program for the social responsibility
to achieve localization in the food industry sector, which is one of the top priorities of the
comprehensive strategic plans in Almarai, especially since the company is one of the
largest working environments in the kingdom, with more than 9,000 Saudi employees,
including more than 900 Saudi female employees.”Fahad Aldrees, Chief Human
Resources Officer of Almarai, said.

He added that the agreements signed to train and qualify young people are part of the
integrated initiatives and training and rehabilitation programs for national human
resources in Almarai. He pointed out that the company provided about half a million
employee training hours during 2022, raising its retention rate to 90% during 2022.

It is worth mentioning that Almarai is the world’s largest vertically integrated dairy
company, and the largest food and beverage producer and distributor in the Middle
East. Almarai was ranked among LinkedIn’s top 15 Saudi companies for professional
career development for 2022.

Business

SEBA Bank rebrands to AMINA Bank and continues to write its success story

a fully licensed Swiss crypto bank, announced today its new brand identity: AMINA Bank AG. The group operates
globally from its regulated hubs in Zug, Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong, offering its clients traditional and crypto banking services.
SEBA Bank made history in 2019 by becoming one of the first FINMA-regulated institutions to provide crypto banking services. This rebrand marks a new chapter for the company, which has proudly been in operation for more than four years. AMINA Bank is inspired by the same trailblazing ambition to lead the way for its clients and to write its own future as a Swiss-
regulated crypto bank offering services to its traditional and crypto savvy clients around the globe. The name ‘AMINA’ stems from the term ‘transAMINAtion’, meaning transference of one compound to another. AMINA is a brand driven by perpetual change, bringing together the various ‘compounds’ of traditional, digital, and crypto banking to unlock new potential and
growth for our clients. This vision of change represents the transformation of our clients’ financial future. Franz Bergmueller, CEO of AMINA, said: “We are delighted to introduce the world to our new brand identity. While we say goodbye to the SEBA name, we remain forever proud of the achievements made by the group under the former brand. “Our brand signifies a new era in the company’s growth and strategy; we are a key player in crypto banking and are here to define the future of finance. With our client-focused approach, our years of traversing traditional and crypto finance, we offer a platform for investors to build
wealth safely and under the highest regulatory standards.” “We are grateful to be encouraged by our supportive and committed investors who have been very helpful, supporting the growth of the company. We thank our employees in all the regions
for their dedication and client focus. As we look forward to 2024, our ambition is to accelerate the growth of our strategic hubs in Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Abu Dhabi, and to continue our global expansion, building on all the successes we have laid down over the past years.” Current clients of AMINA Bank (formerly SEBA Bank) will be unaffected by the rebrand other than encountering the new name; all operations will be business as usual across the board. The branch office based in Abu Dhabi and the subsidiaries in Hong Kong and Singapore will subsequently apply for a name change to align with the head office in Zug.

Business

Uptime Appoints Mustapha Louni Chief Business Officer

Uptime Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of Mustapha Louni to the position of Chief Business Officer, a role specifically created to drive strategic leadership and client success. In this new role, Mr. Louni will assume responsibility for the global Uptime sales and marketing organizations and drive overall business value for all Uptime clients. He will retain his existing responsibilities overseeing operations in the Middle East, India, Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions. In this elevated capacity, Mr. Louni is poised to play a pivotal role in driving Uptime’s next phase of global expansion through strategic initiatives to enhance market awareness of the dramatically expanding global service lines and delivery capabilities of Uptime that uniquely support the global data center industry in its pursuit of ever higher performance through elevated availability, resiliency, sustainability, and cyber-security of digital infrastructure. Louni’s appointment renews and expands Uptime

Institute 39;s 30-year commitment to advancing excellence in the data center sector on a global scale. “Today we are experiencing the next phase of the one-time, planetary transformation from analog to digital. This unprecedented, once-in-a-generation growth in data center demand is primarily driven by continuing cloud adoption, the new promise of AI, and the demonstrable fact
that hybrid digital infrastructure is here to stay for the foreseeable future,” said Martin McCarthy, CEO, Uptime Institute. “These complex and nuanced market demands require a visionary talent like Mustapha Louni. He is someone who cannot only deftly manage specific aspects of the business but also remain ahead of accelerating changes and trends. He continues to earn client
trust and respect by timely delivery on demanding commitments while he also inspires and energizes colleagues and clients alike. I am delighted to announce Mr. Louni’s new position and know that he will continue to expand the impact that he has already brought to Uptime since his arrival.” In 2014, Mr. Louni joined the Uptime organization in the United Arab Emirates, leveraging his extensive experience from roles at Panduit and Schneider Electric in Paris and Dubai. As the company’s first commercial resource in the Middle East and Africa region, Mr. Louni played a pivotal role in expanding Uptime’s presence. Within a year, he successfully established what became and remains Uptime’s fastest growing regional office. Under his leadership, Uptime has
extended his impressive trajectory of growth in MEA to the Asia-Pacific regions, augmenting the Uptime workforce with dedicated team members spanning more than a dozen countries across these regions. A new Uptime office has been inaugurated in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) this year, further fortifying the company’s ability to meet its commitment to sustained
growth and excellence and serve clients in critical, accelerating markets for digital infrastructure.

Uptime Institute began development of its proprietary and now globally recognized Tier Standards and its Tier Certifications 30 years ago to ensure that the mission critical computing needs of all organizations could be met with confidence and understood by executive management. Since that time, Uptime Tier Certification as well as other Uptime offerings including assessments and awards in digital infrastructure for ensuring business performance in areas of management and operations, risk and resilience, sustainability, and more recently cyber- security have gained global adoption. Uptime’s expanding success is based on delivering a
unique business service that is based upon unparalleled engineering excellence and technical mastery, while remaining vendor independent and technology agnostic.