The Ministry of communication confirmed their work on the second phase of high-speed ADSL Internet expansion according to a statement on Friday from the telecommunication Minister Gebran Bassil speaking at a press conference.

According to their statistics for the past 18 months over 58,000 subscribed to ADSL which is 8% of the Lebanese Internet users but they are hoping more to come, however official statistics show that the number of Internet subscribers in Lebanon is 330,000.

Some people claim that only few areas are linked to the ADSL service such as Beirut, Tripoli, Sidon, Zahle in 32 centers while other are still deprived from this service. Minister Bassil hopes that by 2010 all phone centers will have ADSL. "We hope that by 2010, nearly 80 percent of the land-line subscribers will have access in the fast Internet," he said.

The first phase of the plan involves the installation of ADSL in 13 phone centers in Beirut and its suburbs and will be completed by the end of October. The second phase will see the installation of ADSL in 27 centers in Byblos, Batroun and other regions in the north of the country.