JORDAN NATIONAL INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY (2013-2017) Overview Jordan was one of the first Arab countries to introduce communication and information technology to the economy. In 1921 the Department of Post and Telegraph (DPT) was set up. It provided telegraph and post services to Trans Jordan Emirate In 1930, telecom services were further developed as well as international links. The Ministry of Post, Telegraph and Telephony (MoPTT) was established in 1951 as the successor of the DPT. It was responsible for providing, improving and expanding the coverage of post and national telephone services across the Kingdom. In 1971, the Telecommunications Corporation (TCC) was established as a Government controlled entity responsible for the provision of various telecom services, including telephone, telegraph and telex and for regulating them 1. Jordan developed satellite communication links in the late 1970s and mobile telephone service (MTS) in the mid-1980s. International direct dialing was introduced in 1982; in 1989, Jordan had one Atlantic Ocean International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) channel, one Indian Ocean INTELSAT channel, and one Arab Satellite Organization (ARABSAT) channel2. Jordan was also one of the first Arab countries to introduce information technology (IT) to industry and the economy. The General Statistics Department installed the first mainframe in 1968 followed by Cairo Amman Bank in 1969 and the Royal Scientific Society (RSS) installed a mainframe in the early 1970s. The RSS was also outsourced to do customer billing for the Jordan Electricity Authority (JEA) and the Jordan Telecommunications Corporation (TCC) in the 1970s and 1980s. By the late 1980s banks and large industrial institutions (Phosphate and Potash) had computerized systems and IT departments. In the late 1980s, the national IT industry seriously developing due to the advent of affordable and powerful personal desktop computers and an increasing number of IT graduates. Technical development and growth of the ICT industry was further enhanced by privatization and liberalization of the telecommunications sector according to the timeline included in Annex 1. The Jordanian ICT sector has grown tremendously since the late 1980s and early 1990s,. In the late 1990s, the Information Technology Association of Jordan (INT@J) was formed. INT@J Played a crucial role in developing a series of national strategies (REACH 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, etc.) and the last national strategy was developed by the sector in cooperation with the Ministry of ICT. INT@J was the first institution to start gathering meaningful sector specific data. As such, much of what is in this report is based on data gathered and collated by INT@J. Since the establishment of MoICT in 2002, the ministry became more involved and enhanced cooperation within the ICT sector by getting all relevant players involved and by leading the collective development of sector policies. The ICT sector grew in response to liberalization of telecommunications.. The sector’s initial reform requests were centered on deregulating the industry, lowering internet usage costs and getting the government to lead sector development trough initiating Eeducation and E-government. The E-Education initiative created an ICT subsector with export 1 2 http://www.trc.gov.jo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=337&itemid=507&lang=english http://www.mongabay.com/history/jordan/jordan-telecommunications.html 8