Lebanon reportedly plans to launch a tender to manage state-owned mobile operators MTC Touch and Alfa as part of sweeping changes to the telecoms sector.
Ministry of Telecommunications senior adviser, Karim Kobeissi, said in an interview with Reuters…
Lebanon reportedly plans to launch a tender to manage state-owned mobile operators MTC Touch and Alfa as part of sweeping changes to the telecoms sector.
Ministry of Telecommunications senior adviser, Karim Kobeissi, said in an interview with Reuters that contracts to manage the operators, currently run by Kuwait-based Zain and Egypt’s OTMT, would last for an extended three to five-year period.
Zain’s and OTMT’s contracts expired in January but have been extended until the end of February to give the government more time to consider the changes.
While Kobeissi said it is too early to tell whether other companies will be interested in taking over the management of Touch and Alfa, the tender will be open to “qualified telecoms operators”. He said there are no plans to open the market to a third player.
According to the report, both Zain and OTMT, which entered the Lebanese market in 2004 and 2009 respectively, want to remain in the country. In the past, their management contracts have been renewed on a near-annual basis.
Saying the government wants to transform Lebanon into a “digital hub”, Kobeissi said there are also plans to spin-off mobile towers into a stand-alone, state-owned business, which could also be run by a private company. The government is also looking at laying a submarine cable to Cyprus, he said.
Touch is Lebanon’s largest mobile operator, followed by Alfa.
