‘Local IT industry can benefit from growth of Internet connectivity’

AMMAN — Increasing the coverage of telecom networks in Jordan and offering high-speed Internet at competitive prices is crucial to keep the Kingdom abreast of the latest technological trends, a Cisco Systems executive said Monday.

By 2020, the growth of machines and devices connected to the Internet will reach 212 billion, Tarek Ghoul, the general manager of Cisco Gulf, Levant and Pakistan, said in a video conference to reveal the results of the Technology Radar study.

“For Jordan to be part of the global trends that we will witness in the next 12 months, mobile operators need to expand their coverage to reach remote areas,” Ghoul told The Jordan Times.

The availability of telecom networks and the competition between operators are key to enhancing coverage and reducing prices of high-speed Internet, he said. 

Asked about the impact of a fourth operator on the Jordanian market that will provide fourth generation (4G) services, Ghoul said he expected the introduction of a new operator to increase competition. 

The “Internet of Everything” — the interconnection of people, processes, data and things — entails an economic opportunity of $19 trillion in the next decade (($14.4 trillion in the private sector and $4.6 trillion in the public sector), he said, citing the study, which highlights the key trends set to redefine businesses and life across the Middle East in 2014.

“There is huge potential for IT and app development companies in Jordan and the region to benefit from this growing phenomenon… As connections between people, devices and equipment increase, there will be a need for apps, software, new IT solutions and infrastructure,” the Cisco executive added.

“What we are now seeing is the emergence of an application economy where the focus will no longer be simply on the hardware, but also on supporting a larger number of applications on all connected devices.”

The Middle East is already well-poised to reap the benefits of this shift, with the region’s IT spending projected to grow 7.3 per cent from 2013 to $32 billion in 2014, according to IT research firm, IDC. 

Cisco also reports that the Middle East and Africa region is set to post the world’s strongest mobile data traffic growth at 77 per cent as compound annual growth rate until 2017.

By 2022, Cisco predicts that person-to-machine and person-to-person combined connections will constitute 55 per cent of the total “Internet of Things”, whereas machine-to-machine connections make up the remaining 45 per cent, according to the Tech Radar Study.