Algeria goes online
p2pnet.net News:- The number of Internet cafes across Algeria jumped to 5,000 by the end of 2004 from 100 in 2000, says the country`s Telecom Minister Amar Tou who`s, spearheading a modernisation of the sector considered key for a country with three-quarters of the population below the age of 30.
Algeria has 1.5 million Net users in a population of 32 million, with most not yet hooked up to ADSL or high-speed Internet, continues Reuters, going on:
Despite wealth largely drawn from vast oil and gas reserves, Algeria lags neighbours in technology and telecoms because authorities spent most of the 1990s fighting militants who threatened the very existence of the state. Armed with a fresh $55-billion, five-year spending plan, the government says it is now determined to pull Algeria out of isolation and compete with neighbouring countries.
Algiers recently awarded a fixed-line licence to an Egyptian consortium, including Orascom Telecom that`s expected to boost Net access with a broadband network, and has also sold licences to firms promoting calls via the Internet, adds the report.
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See:-
Reuters, – Internet cafes thrive as Algerian violence subsides, April 26, 2005
