Liban Telecom committee appointed

Target for company to
become operational early next year

The Council of Ministers has appointed a committee to prepare the essential terms of reference to establish the long awaited Liban Telecom.

According to Ziad Hayek, Secretary General of the Higher Council for Privatization (HCP), advisors are being consulted to draw the form of the company, including the financial plan and balance sheet. “We already finalized this phase and presented our report to the Council of Minister last year, the it has not yet assigned a board tasked with the creation of the company,” he said.

Hayek said the HCP will update the data and prepare the report for October. “If the Council of Ministers assigns the board, Liban Telecom will be operational as of February of March 2016,” he said.

The activities of the company will start with its merger with Ogero, the operational provider of the fixed line public telecommunication services and two directorates of the Ministry of Telecoms, as per Law 431.

The new company will be a joint-stock entity, owned by the State. “Two years following its establishment, it will be privatized and a strategic partner from the private sector will handle it,” he said.

Liban Telecom will provide fixed and mobile telephony, local and international communication, voice and data access, pay phones, emergency call services, dial-up, and printed directory information services.

“The sector has been suffering for the past 13 years and it is time to reactivate it properly as per the law,” he said.