The Ministry of Telecommunication (MoT) announced that it will launch a tender soon to appoint new operators for the mobile phone network. The renewed contracts of the current operators Touch and Alfa will end in 45 days.

The tender, according to MoT, will be ready before the expiration of the contracts of the current operators, even though it is a relatively short notice.

“During less than two months, the ministry was able to achieve more than what has been done in the past few years. Getting the tender ready in this short period will not be a surprise,” said a spokesperson at the MoT.

He said that the timeline and terms of reference will be ready very soon.

Last week, the MoT had reproached operators on deteriorating quality of services, and threatened to terminate their contracts if they do not immediately improve their services.

The MoT has subsequently put on hold executing the threat until after a meeting requested by the management of both operators, Zein (managing Touch) and Orascom Telecom (managing Alfa).

During the meeting, held yesterday, the operators committed to respond to MoT’s demands.  A follow-up joint committee will be formed of representatives from the MoT and operators. 

The Minister of Telecoms Boutros Harb said that current operators will be able to participate in the expected tender if they meet eligibility requirements and improve the deteriorating services.