In 1999, a local private company has won a contract with STE to import, install and operate 500 pay phones in Damascus and Aleppo (with equipment provided by Ascom of Germany). In the year 2000, the same company got the government’s approval to expand the contract to reach 750 payphones. This service is expected to expand in the years ahead, providing an opportunity to supply payphone sets to the private sector companies that will be licensed to run this service.

Over the past five years, Syria's telecommunications network has undergone an extensive modernization and expansion process that has improved both international and domestic connections. Some 147 new exchanges have been installed, expanding the number of lines from 532,000 to more than 1.5 million, and new fiber-optic and microwave links between exchanges have further enhanced domestic services. Additionally, a new fiber-optic underwater link to Cyprus and a microwave link to Beirut have been completed. This will increase the number of telephone lines available and allow for direct computer and data information links between the two countries. Steps to upgrade air stations for satellite links have greatly improved telephone connections across the Atlantic Ocean. Some projects have faced delay in operation as the total number of telephone lines was expected to reach three million by the year 2000. The current umber of fixed lines in service is less than 2 million fixed lines.

As a conclusion the STE contracted for 1.65 million-lines in total. The contracts were valued at US$363,679,254 distributed among the following companies: Ericsson for switching and fiber optic for intercity, Samsung for fiber-optic for rural areas, Bosch for microwave links for rural areas and intercity, Siemens of Turkey for subscriber cables, Saudi Modern Company and Electro of Saudi Arabia, Metra of Switzerland, Kolon of Korea and a British company for boxes, jointing materials and accessories.³