Alfa and Touch terms extended for one month

Tender to bring in new operators in three months

The Cabinet has extended the contracts of mobile networks operators, Zein (Touch) and Orascom Telecom (Alfa) by an additional month. The Cabinet will, in the meantime, study two proposals presented by the Ministry of Telecommunications (MoT). The interim management agreements of the two network operators will expire on February 1.

In January 2012, the Cabinet had renewed the contracts of Alfa and Touch for one year to manage the two mobile phone networks, Mic1 and Mic2.

The MoT came up with two proposals for the end of the contract period, according to Talal Assaf, Media Advisor at the ministry. The first suggests extending the contracts of current operators for another three months, while the MoT prepares the tenders to award new operating companies. The second proposal suggests handing the government direct control of the sector for three months while preparing for the tender.

International companies will be invited to apply for the tender and the winners will handle the sector for the next five years. Assaf said Zein and Orascom will be allowed to participate in the tender.

The MoT had presented to the Cabinet another plan with a collaborative vision for the telecoms sector. The study, prepared in collaboration with Booz and Co., involved merging the two networks (Mic1 and Mic2) under one state-owned company ‘Liban Telecom’. Assaf said this plan would be for the long-term management of telecoms services.