internet activity

Internet Activity

Global One/Sprint Jordan was the first commercial full Internet service provider in Jordan after forming a joint venture with the Jordanian company Assas which owns 51% of the project. This project which required a total investment of $2 million, was officially launched in March 1996..
Global One provides the same packet switching technology used by Sprint worldwide in SprintNet. This shared technology provides Jordanian users interconnection with networks, hosting of computers and other organizations.
Global One serves over 2000 Jordanian users today. The company offers yearly subscriptions for approximately $89/year which includes 8 free hours online every month. Each additional hour costs the customer approximately $7.86.

NETS and ACCESS are two of the major local Bulletin Board Service Providers (BBS's) providing basic e-mail services, file libraries, forums (local news groups), online chat, and online games. NETS has recently began to provide interconnection with servers from all over the world.

PRIMUS is another local BBS Provider owned and managed by the Computer Networking Services Company (CNS). In addition to providing basic services like email, chatrooms and forums, PRIMUS allows users to design their own HTML-based pages. This company provides many services and interactivity with its customers which gave it a very good reputation among Jordanian PC users, setting the standard for other ISP's in the country.

AT&T in cooperation with a local Jordanian partner, First Telecommunication Group (FTG), has secured a license to operate an Internet service in Jordan. The partners are expected to start offering their services later this year.

The cost of connectivity to the Jordanian user ranges from around $70-$120/year. This price is relatively high considering that the average per capita income in the country is less than $3000 per year. This cost to the consumer is high due to the price of the bandwidth that suppliers must pay in order to offer customers an acceptable Internet connection.

The National Information Center of Jordan was established in 1993 to "develop common standards necessary for the management of the National Information System." The NIC is a publicly owned and run organization which was the first in Jordan to establish a local node catering to the needs of governmental organizations and universities.

Several web designing companies have recently started conducting business in Jordan among which are TotalView, ArabNet, Xroads, and Access. These companies have established a web presence for Jordanian companies and newspapers on the web.
Magnet Internet Services in conjuction with CyberNet Internet Design Services also offers web design services to the Jordanian market. Magnet designed Jordan's first business directory online. As of December 1996, there were only 20 companies listed in this directory. The company has also designed Virtual Jordan which is an interactive website giving customers online access to shopping from malls and stores in the Amman area.

Sakhr, a software development company serving the Middle Eastern market, provides Arabic Internet access to Jordanian Internet users through its regional offices in Amman. Sakhr plans to distribute 50,000 copies of its Internet Kit through BYTE and PC magazine's Arabic editions. Digitek and other Sakhr dealers are separately distributing another 2000 copies of the company's Internet Kit around the world.

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