AMMAN: Zain Jordan, one of the three mobile phone and Internet service providers in Jordan plans to invest $106.4 million during 2013 to upgrade its infrastructure and services, according to the company’s chief executive.

Ahmad Al Hanandeh told reporters that Zain Jordan will spend 76 million dinars ($106.4 million) during the year for the purpose. He stressed the importance of consistency in legislation governing the telecom sector as changes negatively affects the operators in the market as well as investments.

The Jordanian market is saturated and the number of mobile subscribers exceeds that of the population, he said. As such, there is no need for a fourth mobile operator but rather for new services and upgrading existing ones, which will help increase operators and government’s revenues, he said.

“The already existing companies face challenges in terms of higher electricity costs and a drop in revenues generated from voice services, international calls and from messaging services,” he said.

“International SMS for example is a dying business as mobile holders download apps from the Internet such as WhatsApp and others, connect to the Internet and make international calls and send SMS for free,” Hanandeh said, calling for regulating the commercial use of such apps.