Jordan Telecom Group demonstrates components of ADSL service

Jordan Telecom Group (JTG), the first integrated telecom operator in the Kingdom, discussed thoroughly on Wednesday the main components for providing the internet service in Jordan.

The discussion with members of the press took place during a press conference headed by JTG CEO Mr. Mickael Ghossein who pointed out that ever since becoming the sole integrated operator in Jordan and the region and providing Orange integrated services, the Group has been keen on developing the infrastructure of the internet and information technology services in the Kingdom as well as contributing in achieving His Majesty’s vision to transform Jordan into a regional ICT hub.

“We have delivered on our promise and introduced top-notch telecom solutions to our customers through the Group’s internet network saving them time and effort. We have also fulfilled our customers’ growing needs as a result of today’s huge information revolution, maintaining at the same time the elements of security, speed and quality in providing the services,” he added.

The CEO went on saying, “Jordanian’s demand for the internet service has been huge during the last period. Therefore, and as part of the Group’s commitment towards the local community, we have fulfilled this growing demand by providing the internet services to those who wished to acquire it. Furthermore, we have launched different offers and services that meet the needs as well as the financial abilities of different segments of the Jordanian society.”

For his part, Eng. Amer Sunna (Chief information Technology and Networks Officer) demonstrated the Phases of providing internet service in the Kingdom and the whole link between the subscriber premises and the World Wide Web. He highlighted that providing the service undergoes four main phases: copper access network(local Loop), backhaul network , the main station, internet service providers (ISPs) networks, and the international Gateways

He said that the copper access network consists of main and secondary cables designed according to international standards and covers all inhabited areas (cities, villages, and all populated areas) of the Kingdom. Sunna went on saying that providing the internet service to any subscriber requires an dedicated copper line within this network that reaches the subscriber’s premises  and an ADSL Modem that come under the JTG’s responsibility in addition to the other components that fall under the subscriber’s responsibility such as the PC and other internal cabling.

He pointed out that any failure in any of these components leads to a fault in the internet service (ADSL). Talking about the statistics available at JTG regarding these disruptions, Sunna said that they are categorized as follows:
 50% of the fault are handled directly(immediately) through the customer care center.
 20% to 25% are within subscriber’s responsibility.
 25% to 30% fall under JTG’s responsibility.
In addition to that, the Incidents and thefts of copper cables network take up a major share in the reasons behind these faults, where the number of Incidents registered from the beginning of this year up to this date are as follows: 515 thefts and 873 cuts of cables by some contractors  working for different entities.

Addressing the audience, Sunna pointed out that the Backhaul Network is made up of DSLAMs units, fiber optic cables and Transmission Equipment  According to Sunna, JTG owns the biggest fiber optic network in terms of capacity and coverage, which reaches to about 4000 kilometers in length. He contributed the reasons behind the network’s faults to the continued incidents in fiber optic cables to:
 Constructions carried out by contracts working for different parties, forming about 80% of the faults.
 Incidents (vandalism) by some irresponsible persons forming about 20% of the faults.
Sunna went on saying that the number of incidents faced by the fiber optic network during this year to date was (208), stressing that the infrastructure of the network contains diversity routes to switch the Traffic in case one of the routes faced an incident.

He indicated that the main station forms the backbone of the local internet network which carries the main components that aggregate  the local internet traffic and connect it to the World Wide Web as well as it host part of ISPs devices. (Chief information Technology and Networks Officer) pointed out that the station is designed and equipped with a high level of reliability, where the network’s subscribers are divided among a number of main units to guarantee service continuity to the Maximum number of subscribers in case of any  unit fault, noting that the main station is monitored 24/7 through the Network Management Center (NMC).

Regarding the International Gateways that JTG’s internet network is connected to, Sunna highlighted that the Group’s network is linked to the International Internet Network through three different International routes to guarantee the service continuity  in case a glitch hits a route. He said that the working  capacities until the end of last month is about 4G distributed among these three International Routes. The Group’s strategy is to increase the International Bandwidth if the Capacity utilization reaches 85% of the total working capacities.

Furthermore, Sunna went on saying that these routes faced 36 external (outside the Kingdom’s borders) incidents between the start of this year and the end of last month that JTG had no control on. The result of these incidents was slower internet speed for limited periods. He stressed that the Group is usually seeking to avoid the consequences of such cuts by renting temporary alternative capacities (according to its availability internationally) and placing it with the highest speed possible.

Mr. Sami Smeirat, JTG VP/CEO of the Enterprise Business Unit, tackled the unsuccessful hacking attempts that attacked the internet and websites of some companies, highlighting JTG’s highly–skilled technical teams’ role in countering these attempts. However, he said that the hacking attempts have somewhat affected the performance of the service.

“One of our Group’s strategies is to serve and protect the companies working in the Kingdom, help them handle any risk threatening their networks, and provide best solutions. We have been providing these companies with all the possible support, offering solutions that ensure the continuation of the high performance of their networks and monitoring any hacking attempts thus preventing any major damage to their websites,” added Smeirat.

He pointed out that the Group’s call center 1215, which serves the business sector, continued providing its services by receiving inquiries from subscribers and solving their problems efficiently.

Mrs. Wassila Zitoune, Orange Home Vice President, emphasized that all what was mentioned earlier was the reason behind the call center 1214 receiving a huge number of phone calls. She noted that the number of received calls has doubled in the second half compared with the first half of this year, saying that this is normal in light of several factors such as the increase in the demand and subscribers for the internet service, in addition to disconnecting the service from the internet and fixed subscribers who haven’t paid their monthly subscription fees, all this has caused an increase in the number of calls received by the call center as inquiries flowed to know the reason behind service disconnection. The Group has adopted several means to communicate with subscribers to notify them of any updates such as SMSs, ads in newspapers and home autodialing .

She also attributed the pressure of calls made to the call center to some ISPs asking their subscribers to contact the center to inquire about any fault in the service by its suppliers. According to Orange Home Vice President, the Group is taking extra measures to increase the number of personnel in its call centers to ensure the continuity of receiving inquiries from citizens easily and smoothly.

She explained that in order to improve the level of service, the Group will regulate the influx of calls to its call center by imposing a tariff on fixed and internet subscribers when phoning the call center.

-ENDS-