‘Data traffic in Jordan rose by 25% during snow’

AMMAN — Data traffic rose by about 25 per cent in Jordan during the recent snowstorm, telecom sector representatives said Thursday.

The country’s three telecom operators — Zain Jordan, Orange Jordan and Umniah — said their networks registered a large increase in data consumption during the blizzard.

“The increase we witnessed during the snowstorm was normal as people were stuck at home most of the time,” Umniah CEO Ihab Hinnawi told reporters.

ICT Minister Azzam Sleit said the ministry, in cooperation with telecom operators and various stakeholders, implemented an emergency plan during the snowstorm to ensure the continuity of services to subscribers.

“The plan we implemented was very efficient and ensured continued telecom services. No major incidents were registered during the snowstorm,” Sleit noted.

Mohammad Taani, head of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC), said the number of complaints about telecom services during the snowstorm was limited and did not include major problems.

“I don’t think any household in Jordan suffered from disruptions in telecom services at all... each of the three operators has second and third generation networks, which means that services are provided at all times and if a network faces issues the traffic moves to the second network,” Taani explained.

Reviewing measures taken during the polar front, Zain Jordan CEO Ahmad Hanandeh said the company’s technical staff working in the field were fully prepared and equipped with all they needed to address any problems.

The company, he said, activated an emergency plan to deal with the severe weather that entailed cooperating with different stakeholders including municipalities and the Public Security Department.

Orange Jordan CEO Jean-Francois Thomas said the company took all the necessary measures to face the snowstorm, adding that the performance of all companies in terms of service availability and addressing complaints was much better than during the blizzard that hit the country in December 2013.

According to TRC figures, mobile penetration in the Kingdom reached 147 per cent at the end of the third quarter of 2014.

Internet penetration in the Kingdom also rose to 74 per cent at the end of September last year.