Internet Access in the Region

By: Karim Zebari
July 23, 2001

Arbil (The Kurdistan Observer) July 23, 2001-In most of Middle Eastern countries, 
governments control the communication and information media and freedom of press
has never been guaranteed.  In most of these countries the main role of the local media
is transmitting official government statements. They are not allowed to criticize the 
government actions. 

People realize that the local press cannot be relied upon in delivering information on
important issues and hence they usually turn to foreign media.  With the spread of the
Internet in the region, people have access to media information of almost every foreign 
country. 

Internet connectivity in the Middle East is very low; in fact it is one of the least connected
regions in the world.  There are a number of reasons for this among them the lack of
government will to introduce Internet for fear of losing control over information, poor
communication infrastructure and affordability of people.  Despite this, all countries of the
region now have some kind of Internet access, thanks to pro-Internet people within
governments, business, academic and research communities.  Further, most governments in
the region understand the advantages of Internet connectivity for their countries.  They also
realize that Information Technology and Internet can create many jobs for people and boost
their economies. 

It is very difficult to find an accurate estimate for the number of users of the Internet in the
Middle East, let alone worldwide.  In fact it is a near-impossible task given the problems
involved.  First, the Internet, as a network, is expanding all the time in most regions of the
world.  Second, the number of Internet users is also growing constantly.  Third, in many
cases a single Internet account is used by multiple users.  However, Internet research
companies resort to past figures and estimates to project the current online population.  Most
of these companies agree that the online population is growing fast.  But this growth is not
even in all parts of the world.  United States tops the list in terms of Internet connectivity;
and on the other extreme North Korea, a most closed country, has no Internet access at all. 

In the Middle East, because of the obstacles mentioned earlier, Internet growth has been
quite slow compared to some other parts of the world.  The number of Internet users
worldwide was around 410 million as of December 2000, which is 6.7 percent of world
population.  Of this, the Middle East accounts for a share of only 4.5 million users.  The top
three countries of the Middle East in terms of Internet users are respectively, Turkey with
around 1.5 million users, Israel with just over one million users, and United Arab Emirates
with around 500,000 users. 

Here in Kurdistan Region there is Internet connectivity. This is despite the fact that the state
of telecommunication infrastructure has been very poor in the region, although it is being
rehabilitated slowly.  In a region that is surrounded by unfriendly countries, and where the
only possible, and very costly, Internet link is through space via earth-orbiting satellites, it is
very promising to see Internet connectivity in many university colleges and government
offices.   Most KRG ministries in Erbil now have Internet access and they use the Internet
when proposing projects funded by the UN Oil-for-Food program.  Currently, most of the 
colleges of Salahaddin and Duhok universities have Internet access; students and staff use
the service to obtain latest information on scientific developments in their disciplines.   Plans
are underway to further expand Internet connectivity into all university colleges and
technical institutes.  There are probably around 5000 Internet users in Kurdistan Region. 
Kurdistan region has much more Internet access than Iraq.  In Iraq, the Ministry of
Information has Internet access along with a few other selected locations controlled and
monitored by the ministry.  Considering that even satellite dishes are prohibited in the
country, it is not surprising that there is very little Internet access in Iraq. 
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