The Internet Society’s latest Country Report on Lebanon reveals a paradox at the core of the country’s internet ecosystem. Although 90% of the population reports using the internet, a figure well above the 62% average in Asia, the underlying infrastructure is outdated and vulnerable to cybersecurity breaches.
Source: ISOC’s Lebanon Country Report
The average fixed broadband speeds in Lebanon stand at just 9.21 Mbps, far too low for reliable and fast internet access, according to the report. Most users are pushed to depend on mobile data, which, although faster (30.83 Mbps), is significantly more expensive.
4G network coverage reaches 95% of the country, and only less than 1% of users have access to 5G, revealing a heavy reliance on outdated infrastructure with little preparation for future demand.
Only 8% of the top 1,000 websites visited in Lebanon can be accessed directly through a server located inside the country. This is below the 50% global benchmark and Asia’s average, which means users end up facing higher costs and slower load, as content must be retrieved from international servers and re-downloaded at every use.
Lebanon’s cybersecurity score is just 30.44 out of 100, meaning that internet infrastructure is far from secure. The IPv6 adoption rate, the newer and more secure version of internet addresses, is under 1%, compared to 40% across Asia.
The gaps in Lebanon’s internet ecosystem are not only structural, but also gendered: only 8% of women in Lebanon report using the internet, compared to 12% of men.
Perhaps most tellingly, Lebanon’s overall Internet Resilience Score, which measures infrastructure, security, performance, and market readiness, sits at just 38%, a number below global standards.
Shortcuts and lack of investments
Lebanon’s slow internet speeds show that the government hasn’t prioritized building a reliable fixed broadband infrastructure. Meanwhile, more digitally advanced countries rely on strong, high-speed broadband as the backbone of their national internet ecosystem.
Even worse, the government is absent from the most crucial investment areas. There are only four operational data centers in the country and a mere two Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), far below Asia’s average of five.
IXPs is critical to infrastructure as it enables domestic data to be exchanged locally, reducing reliance on costly international routing. Additionally, the country’s upstream diversity, the number of direct routes connecting it to the global internet, is marked as poor in the report. This means Lebanon relies on too few pathways to connect to the global internet. A single cable cut or regional disruption could digitally isolate the country.
Fragile cybersecurity frameworks amid digital attacks
In a heightened security context, marked by regional instability and increased cyber threats, Lebanon should be among the most prepared nations when it comes to cybersecurity.
Yet, it remains as one of the most vulnerable. Its Global Cybersecurity Index score stands at just 30.44 out of 100, leaving millions of users exposed to threats such as phishing, malware, and digital espionage.
Source: Global Cybersecurity Index 2024 – The International Telecommunication Union
While DNSSEC, the standard for domain name authentication and a basic security protocol that prevents website hijacking, is technically “active,” only less than 1% of domains under the .lb country code are actually protected by it.
As a result, only 24% of all internet traffic in the country is secured by DNSSEC, far behind the 35% average in Asia. Compare this to Iraq where 78% of the web traffic is protected by DNSSEC against digital attacks.
More worryingly, .lb domains are often linked to state-hosted websites that store sensitive data on millions of users. A breach of such a domain, like those that exposed public school teachers’ information, or revealed vulnerabilities in the Lebanese Ministry of Social Affairs’s National Poverty Targeting Program, can lead to large-scale security compromises.
Today, most users in Lebanon browse the internet unaware that their queries can be silently intercepted. Without DNSSEC, internet searches for sites like their bank or a government portal, can be hijacked and rerouted to be fake or malicious recipients.
DNSSEC Validation Rate by country
Source: APNIC labs
Lebanon lacks sufficient IPv6 adoption, the next-generation internet protocol, which is essential for expanding the internet through more IP addresses and offering improved efficiency and security. With adoption below 1%, compared to 40% in Asia, the country is failing to invest in more secure infrastructure necessary for booming technologies, from cloud computing to smart infrastructure.
Who pays the price of a fragile internet ecosystem?
This lack of resilient infrastructure offloads the burden of dysfunction onto the users. They pay higher prices for slower internet, deal with frequent service interruptions, and face the risks of exposed networks, which ultimately affects their quality of life.
While the internet is still treated as a private service, this does not absolve the government of its responsibility to build and maintain the core infrastructure that supports reliable, affordable, and secure internet connectivity.
The Internet in Lebanon is already among the priciest in the region, generating significant revenues for the state treasury. However, as echoed in the 2022 report by the Court of Audit, billions of dollars were wasted in the telecommunications sector, with approximately USD 6 billion squandered on operations and other costs without holding any entity accountable.
For instance, touch’s 3G rollout was initially projected to cost USD 25.6 million but ultimately ballooned to USD 128 million. Similarly, Alfa’s project started with a budget of USD 41.6 million but ended up costing USD 170 million due to corruption and mismanagement.
The Lebanese government has spoken of ambitious digital transformation plans, embraced AI strategies, pledged to dismantle illegal internet networks, and even entertained discussions with Starlink. Yet a critical question arises: How can a country achieve these promising objectives without a secure internet infrastructure to begin with?
If Lebanon’s digital transformation is to truly flourish, the internet must become a right, and not just a luxury afforded by the few. Internet connectivity should be seriously seen as a public good—equitable, secure, and accessible to all. Lastly, while the report attests for an e-government readiness score of 59.38 as a moderate score, with room to grow, it’s clear that no viable path forward can be envisioned without strong governance reforms and investments in critical infrastructure.
Featured image by Jo Kassis on Pexels
