Nearly all areas of telecommunications in Syria have undergone extensive development and modernization, from voice and data Telephone systems to the Internet. Ericsson is supplying and supervising the installation of one million Telephone lines, a project expected to be completed in 2004. Siemens of Germany is expanding the number of switches to 400,000, and a Syrian-Korean joint venture company is locally manufacturing and installing 250,000 rural switches. Ericsson is executing inter-city fiber optic links, while both Bosch (for the microwave component) and Samsung (for the fiber optic component) are supplying and supervision for the installation of the links between rural centers. Ericsson will also supply computer equipment for three new Telephone billing centers.

The BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) GSM tender announced in July 2000 was awarded to two existing cellular operators, Investcom and Syriatel. Regular operations began on April 15, 2001, although demand for cellular phones was below expectation, largely due to high subscription costs, prompting authorities to drop them by two thirds in October 2001. To further encourage subscribers, the Ministry of Communications has announced plans to cut monthly subscription fees by half, providing free monthly minutes for the remaining half. Short Messaging System (SMS) is now available in Syria for a minimal monthly fee and service charges, as well as limited roaming capability with Arab and European countries.

The Syrian Computer Society (SCS) operates its own ISP, and members of the SCS benefit from cheaper rates for Internet services than STE customers. However, as of May 2002, STE has abolished Internet initial subscription cost and subsequent monthly fees, as well as lowered the cost of Internet connection per minute by a third. There is a tremendous demand for Internet access that is not being met because of STE's limited infrastructure. A project to enlarge Syria’s Internet backbone with a dedicated Public Data Network (PDN) intended to expand STE’s ISP service and to allow for the establishment of more private ISPs is ongoing. The PDN will replace the Telephone network in terms of data transfer, Internet accessibility, and other digital services. STE has also recently announced several tenders for a VHF radio paging system, for a GIS system, for Wireless Local Loop (WLL), and for development of a Digital Pair gain System (DPS).

The above statistics are unofficial estimates.¹⁰

In regard to the telecommunications operators. The Fixed lines are exclusively operated and managed by the Syrian Telecommunications Establishment. The mobile operators are InvestCom and Syriatel. There are two Internet Services Providers in Syria the Syrian Telecommunications Establishment and the Syrian Computer Society. ¹¹

An unofficial status indicate that the number of fixed lines in Syria in 2003 to be around 2.5 million line or 150 per 1,000. For the mobile lines the numbers are less than 750,000 lines or a little over 44 per 1,000.

In 1997 the Syrian Computer Society introduced the pilot program for the internet; they had 7,800 subscribers the most majority of them were for the government. In May 2002 they had 36,000 subscribers with a 150,000 user. As of January 2003 they have 250,000 users, 1.3% of the population. They are offering now a dial up, digital (64 and 128), and a wireless (only in Damascus University) connections. The Syrian Computer Society provides the following internet services dial up, leased line with connection speeds ranging from 64 kbps to 2MBps, ISDN, E-mail Wireless connection and the hosting services.¹²

The telecommunication industry still strictly regulated by the Syrian government, but for two mobile lines provider Syriatel and InvestCom. Up until 2000 the Syrian government used to control very closely anything has to do with information technology, starting with the land phone lines going through cell phone lines and fax services and ending with the internet access. But since 2000 and since the president of the Syrian Computer Society became the president of Syria, things have changed in this regard. There has been a huge growth in the number of the phone lines (land lines & cell phones) and internet access. The email services which use to be a very limited services provided to very few people is now widely used by almost anyone who wants it, although there are still some major restrictions on its usage. There has been an information technology subject added to every year in the middle and high schools and in every semester in all the undergraduate levels in all majors in all the universities