Figures for Internet access in the Arab world vary in reliability from country to country, and the rapid growth of the medium means that estimates made a few months apart make comparisons of one country with another precarious. There is considerable variation in how access is obtained. In others, including Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia, there are multiple competing ISPs. While full information was not immediately available, it appears that access, even among elites, is not as widespread as in the west. While many if not most US universities provide all students with Internet accounts, this does not seem to be the case in the Arab world, though the Gulf may be moving in that direction.
Professors generally do have E-mail accounts provided, however.
Except for the pariah states, Saudi Arabia had until now remained the one major holdout on Internet access, though that remark needs to be qualified in one key country. Although Syria theoretically makes the Internet available, reports suggest that there are very few Syrians who actually have accounts. But given the country s authoritarian history and the security services nervousness about dissent, Bashshar seems to be one of the few Syrians with genuine Internet access. But such states pay a price for such restrictions, and business oriented countries like Saudi Arabia cannot afford to be isolated in an age of international business. With faxes and cell phones already ubiquitous, E-mail is likely to quickly become as vital a part of business there as it is elsewhere in the world.