Ministry launches second phase of fiber optics project

Kuwaiti investor plants 1,000 palm trees in Basra

KUWAIT: The ministry of services launched the second phase of a project to install fiber optic cables, which requires subscribers’ cooperation by allowing ministry and specialized companies’ staff into their homes to install and connect the cables. The third and final phase of the project will encompass all residential areas and will include receiving TV transmission through these cables instead of satellite dishes.

The current telephone cables provide Internet services of no more than 3 megabytes, while the fiber optic ones will provide up to 100 megabytes of Internet services, which means ultrafast Internet services for houses. The new cables will also separate phone and Internet lines. The ministry reassured subscribers that they will not be charged for the new service and that the annual subscription fee would remain the same.

Projects’ funding Kuwait Petroleum Corporation’s (KPC) board of directors discussed a study to fund the projects included in its five-year plan through loans from local and international banks, in addition to issuing some bonds. Informed sources said the board did not discuss its subsidiaries’ new administrative structure and denied any intentions to merge, cancel or freeze any of them as recommended by a technical advisor.

Iraqi prisoners

Iraq’s Ambassador to Kuwait Alaa AlHashemi stressed that Iraqi prisoners in Kuwait who were deported to Iraq had been arrested with drugs on entering Kuwaiti land and marine borders. Hashemi added that the prisoners had spent 8-12 years in Kuwaiti prisons after their 15-year sentences were reduced by an Amiri amnesty. He added that two more prisoners will be released soon and six others would be sent to complete their terms in Iraq.

1,000 palm trees

The Basra investment authority announced that Kuwaiti investor Abdul Aziz Al-Babtain had made considerable progress in building a large farm in a desert area, where he planted over 1,000 palm trees. The authority’s chairman Ali Chaseb said the farm is irrigated by 14 wells and that Babtain plans to build 1,650 greenhouses to plant other crops.