Tunis January 14, 2009 -

A first in Tunisia! Tunisia Telecom launches new offer called "SIGOUNDA" and intended to prepaid subscribers to offer pricing based on the billing from the 1st second.
Whatever the offer to which you subscribe, and until January 31, 2010, you can migrate freely to "SIGOUNDA" by dialing * 130 * 6 #.
Yes! The second is 5 millimes for all local destinations!
With the second billing from the 1st second of TT plus a second to lose!

TT just aligned with its main competitor Tunisiana who recently started charging its customers per second in stead of the old 15 seconds chunk system.

The monopolistic Vsat and Wimax provider Divona Telecom has officially changed its corporate name to orange Tunisia after winning a bid to provide exclusive 2G and 3G cell services becoming in the same time part of the French Telecom group with less than 50% shares as stipulated by the the Tunisian regulations.

The move was expected as part of the new marketing strategy of the company to introduce a well know brand rather than using an old Vsat and Wimax provider barely know or even creating a new brand from the mix.

Ornage France has many exclusive contracts allowing to distribute Black berry and Iphone a growing trends in the telecoms markets with the lack of support from Tunisia telecom and the inability of Tunisiana to market any phones locally other than the HTC.

Months ago, Divona did merge with its little sister compagny Planet a major Tunisian ISP with hundreds of sales shops and hundreds of technical support all over the country, Ornage Tunise will certainly benefit from this asset making it easier to distribute their goods in no time.

Divona telecom has also build a solid structure of Wimax with mostly 60% coverge in the tunisiana territory thus adding GSM repeaters on the Wimax tours already available would be an other benefit to spred its cellular coverge in a couple of months, already outsourced to Huwawei the Chinese telecommunication company doing business in Tunisia and other European partners as Satec.

Via [Tn Geeks]

A Tunisiana insider has reported trusty that Tunisiana has raised all the GSN engineer by 25% and gave them an exceptional bonus of 30,000 TND n made them sign a closed contract for 5 years.

The company seems preventing and overprotecting its brilliant staff from moving -if offered better salaries- to the next concurrent (Divona / orange Telecom).

The last news from Divona bakery were talking about French staff that will integrate the actual team for the GSM platform.

Communications Markets in Tunisia offers a precise profile of the country’s converged telecommunications, media, and technology sectors based on proprietary data from our research in the market. The 24-page report provides detailed competitive analysis of both the fixed and mobile sectors, tracks the market shares of technologies and services, and monitors technologies such as WiMax, IPTV, and VoIP. It provides a comprehensive view of the communications market by analyzing key trends, evaluating near-term opportunities and assessing upcoming risks factors. Download an excerpt of this report here .

Even though Tunisia’s mobile and fixed penetration were among the highest in the region in 2008 (82.1 percent and 11.5 percent, respectively), the low broadband penetration rate of 2.2 percent indicates there is still room for growth, observes Sylwia Boguszewska, analyst at Pyramid Research and author of the report.

“To stimulate competition, the government launched a tender for a fixed-line services license so as to promote broadband Internet access and prop up mobile telephony services,” Boguszewska says. “The process of a tender for a technology-neutral license for a mobile and fixed operator was started in May 2009, and a new player is expected to enter the market in 2010,” she adds. This, plus the sale of another stake in Tunisie Telecom, will have a positive effect on market competiveness and liberalization.”

“Although the market will contract in 2009, it will bounce back with broadband being the fastest growing among other significant market segments,” explains Boguszewska. Broadband services will be a considerable source of growth over the next five years, with a CAGR of 15.1 percent between 2009 and 2014, producing estimated revenue of $174 million in 2014, up from $81 million in 2008. “This growth will over compensate for the decline in narrowband Internet services, which will only generate revenue of $4 million in 2014,” concludes Boguszewska.

Source [Pyramid Research]

Tunisie Telecom is expending its product line by assigning a unique service dedicated to the Europe and north America (15 countries) available in more than 8 languages where for a such monthly amount would be able to call a selected phone number from 9 pm through 8 am starting 14 Euros for both landlines and Elissa GSM services payable online which is the only and the first TT online business.

Benefit from the Elissa Mobile plan now. This service allows you to call your correspondent in Tunisia directly unlimited for cell phones between 9pm and 8am Central European Time. Get all these advantages for a month or for a year. The choice is yours.

Monthly subscription fees yearly Subscription fees
Landlines 14 Euros 139 Euros
Cellular 19 Euros 199 Euros
* Vat included doesn't local carrier fees.

TT did launch a new .fr (www.TunisieTelecom.fr) site as much of the Tunisian living in Europe are located in France, the site is by far well designed much better than the main company website illustrated by videos.

Frankly, this is the best service and most creative service TT ever did, I can see clearly that they are really keeping forward getting ready for the deadly Divona / France telecom coming in the beginning of 2010.

Tunis, July 13, 2009- A recent report by Pyramid Research dubbed “Communications Market in Tunisia”, says that Tunisia’s telecom market is set to become one of the fastest growing in the Africa Middle East market with total revenues estimated at 2,2 billion dollars by 2014 on the basis of a growth average of some 5,4% over the next five years.

The 24 page report provides an accurate analysis of Tunisia telecom sector: fixed and mobile sectors, WiMax, IPVT, and VoIP. It also provides an analysis of key trends, short term opportunities and risk factors.

The author of the report Sylvia Boguszweska, writes that event though Tunisia’s mobile and fixed penetration were among the highest in the region in 2008 with 82,1 % and 11,5% respectively, the low broadband penetration rate of some 2,2% shows a strong potential for growth.

“Although the market will contract in 2009, it will bounce back with broadband being the fastest growing among other significant market segments. Broadband services will be a considerable source of growth over the next five years with an annual growth of 15,1% between 2009 and 2014, producing an estimated revenue of 174 million dollars in 2014 up from 81 million dollars in 2008”, says the author of the report.

In June 2009, a consortium made up of France Telecom and Divona /Orange was awarded the third mobile license in Tunisia. The license covers both regular GSM services and 3G, as well as landline services.

The French consortium who made an offer of some 257,251 million dinars (137,647 million Euros), won the bid after being in competition with Turkey’s Turkcell.

There are currently two mobile telephone operators in the country, “Tunisie Telecom” and Orascom’s “Tunisiana”. In 2006, Tunisia Telecom opened up 35% of its capital to Dubai’s Tecom-DIG for some 1,8 billion Euros

Source [Tunisia Online News]

TUNISIA. Tunisia's telecom market will be one of the fastest-growing markets in the Middle East & Africa region with total telecom revenue estimated to grow at a CAGR of 5.4% over the next five years, reaching US$2.2 billion in 2014, according to the latest report from Pyramid Research, the telecom research arm of the Light Reading Communications Network.

Communications markets in Tunisia offers a precise profile of the country's converged telecommunications, media, and technology sectors based on proprietary data from our research in the market. The 24-page report provides detailed competitive analysis of both the fixed and mobile sectors, tracks the market shares of technologies and services, and monitors technologies such as WiMax, IPTV, and VoIP. It provides a comprehensive view of the communications market by analysing key trends, evaluating near-term opportunities and assessing upcoming risks factors.

Even though Tunisia's mobile and fixed penetration were among the highest in the region in 2008 (82.1% and 11.5%, respectively), the low broadband penetration rate of 2.2% indicates there is still room for growth, observes Sylwia Boguszewska, analyst at Pyramid Research and author of the report.

"To stimulate competition, the government launched a tender for a fixed-line services license so as to promote broadband Internet access and prop up mobile telephony services," says Boguszewska. "The process of a tender for a technology-neutral license for a mobile and fixed operator was started in May 2009, and a new player is expected to enter the market in 2010," she adds.

This, plus the sale of another stake in Tunisie Telecom, will have a positive effect on market competiveness and liberalization."

"Although the market will contract in 2009, it will bounce back with broadband being the fastest growing among other significant market segments," explains Boguszewska. Broadband services will be a considerable source of growth over the next five years, with a CAGR of 15.1% between 2009 and 2014, producing estimated revenue of US$174 million in 2014, up from US$81 million in 2008.

"This growth will over compensate for the decline in narrowband Internet services, which will only generate revenue of US$4 million in 2014," concludes Boguszewska.

Communications Markets in Tunisia is part of Pyramid Research's Europe Country Intelligence Report Series.

Learn more about the findings in this report in Pyramid's Mobile Demand, Mobile Data and Mobile Operator KPI Forecasts. Published quarterly, provide the most comprehensive demand, growth and market share tracking available in the industry today, offering five years of historical data and five years of market projections for the principal drivers in 92 markets, including Tunisia.

Source [Business Intelligence Middle East]

Divona the new 3rd phone carrier, seemingly ready few days after the announcement, has already started leasing tactical rooftops in Tunis in order to prepare the implementation of its towers in an effort to get the system ready by the end of the year.

For the latest news, the process of opening a third telecom license in Tunisia, and continues serenely on time. This process is currently in the process of answering questions of candidates for the universal license. This process of technical issues where the answers were made by the Tunisian State, even allow candidates to propose amendments to legal documentation of the tender and especially to the same licensing agreement. This phase should be completed by 13 of the month of March 2009 and responses should occur no later than 7 April this year and the submission of bids on May 5, so we should know the name of the candidate contractor provisionally at the latest during the month of June 2009.

Meanwhile, 9 serious candidates are emerging. There are of course the Tunisian Divona, Vivendi and France Telecom in France, the STC of Saudi Arabia, the emirate Ittisalat BSNL and even the Indian and Chinese PCCW of Hong Kong. This means that the Tunisian offer is great international interest, despite the crisis. This also means, as the same ITU (International Telecommunication Union) in a recent report that the telecommunications sector is not in crisis as some would say.

Source [African Manager]

Many sign and rumors give Divona most of the chances to win the bid as a new growing company and the only Vsat and Wimax provider on the country knowing the local market and having almost a wide Wimax coverage that can be easily used for other telecommunication services.

The government of Tunisia plans to announce the winner of fixed line and mobile service licenses in June 2009 in a bid to end the monopoly of state-controlled Tunisie Telecom (TT) and to attract foreign investment into the fast-growing domestic telecoms market, The Associated Press reports. ‘The results of the international tenders concerning the installation and the use of a third-generation mobile and fixed telephone network (internet and other services) will be announced as of June 2009,’ it reported. It is understood no fewer than 13 groups – drawn from European and the Middle East – are keen on becoming the third telecoms operator in the North African country. The new licenses includes the rights to offer voice and data services, including enhanced broadband internet access and is designed to promote competitiveness and reduce end-user costs.

Source [Mobile News]

The GSMA just announced that entries are invited for the 2009 Global Mobile Awards and the penultimate round of its Mobile Innovation Global Competition, both of which will be presented at the mobile industry’s biggest annual event, the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on 17 February 2009.

The GSMA’s Global Mobile Awards are a unique platform for companies in the mobile industry to gain truly independent recognition for their work.

This year’s awards incorporate several new categories including a new ‘Green Mobile’ Award (highlighting eco-friendly mobile products, services and initiatives), Best Mobile Internet, Best Mobile TV Service and Best Mobile Money Service.

The Best Mobile Technology categories have been refreshed to ensure they capture the wealth of creativity and imagination in the mobile industry. Categories of Mobile Entertainment, Mobile Services, and Best Mobile Handset, are already established as highly desirable awards for any new product or service.

The deadline for entries for the Global Mobile Awards is Friday 28 November 2008 (5.00pm GMT). A panel of independent analysts, journalists and specialist experts will choose the winners, who will receive their awards at a gala dinner at the National Palace in Barcelona on Tuesday 17 February 2009, during the Mobile World Congress.

The GSMA’s commitment to innovation is supported by the Mobile Innovation Market community, which has created the Mobile Innovation Global Award Competition. The Mobile Innovation Market encourages breakthrough technology, applications and services in the mobile industry by bringing together smaller companies developing innovative products and solutions, with industry investors from leading venture capital firms and senior figures from mobile operators and leading global brands.

On 16 February at the Mobile World Congress, the Top 15 Innovators will present their ideas in front of the Mobile Innovation Marketplace audience and a panel of esteemed judges; from the five Category Winners to be named that day, two will emerge as global finalists and will compete against other Global Finalists selected from regional Mobile Innovation tournaments in the Americas, APAC and a virtual ‘online’ round.

The finalists will then compete head-to-head on 17 February for the prestigious title of ‘2009 GSMA Mobile Innovation Global Champion’ to be awarded at the Global Mobile Awards Gala that evening. The deadline for entries for the Mobile Innovation EMEA tournament is 5 December, 2008.

For more details on the categories, rules, entry forms and more, you can check out the following links: Global Mobile Awards and Mobile Innovation Awards.

Via [Startup Arabia]

Screen shots of Vodaphone Tunisia testing their network (ID:60511 ans 605 12) from their headquarters in the franch Alcatel labs in El Ghazela. for more in formations take a look here.

Photos creadits goes to Kerek E.T.

he number of mobile phone users in Tunisia rose to 7.8 million last year from 6.7 million in 2006, giving a mobile penetration of 78 percent of inhabitants. Adding in fixed lines, telephony penetration reached 90 percent. The figures were announced by minister for communication technologies El Hadj Gley in a presentation on the country's innovation strategy, reports local paper La Presse. The number of computers in the country grew to 767,000 last year, of which 62,000 were supplied by the government programme to supply family PCs.

Via [telecompaper]

The success of the GSM is due to the competition once Tunisiana got in the market, the land phones are just about ADSL, in fact few people use their land phone else for business, faxes or ADSL, the cell phone is most used in all circumstances.

As part of its new services -and may be in order stay up to date with Tunisiana- Tunisie Telecom has unveiled a new GPS Tracking service for enterprise customers seeking to increase efficiency, security and management of vehicle fleet despite Tunisiana Weenee, this system is about monitoring rather than Tunisiana's drivers localization and directions services.

Beside that the service was widely offered by a number of companies with satellite real time tracking, I think that the service is just an other answer from Tunisie Telecom to his competitor Tunisiana to be always in the race avoiding a totally blind imitation as usual.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Egyptian wireless company Orascom plans to invest up to $400 million in a new mobile phone network in North Korea, one of the world's poorest and most tightly controlled societies.

Hatim E. El Gammal, an investor relations official with Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E., said Thursday that the network would be the first based on 3G in North Korea.

El Gammal didn't elaborate on the deal but said construction would begin "in the near future."

Orascom said in a statement on its Web site Wednesday that a joint venture subsidiary, CHEO Technology, would offer services throughout North Korea for 25 years under the terms of the deal and exclusively for the first four years.

Orascom, the largest mobile communications company in the Middle East with 65 million subscribers, said it controls 75 percent of CHEO and the rest is held by the state-run Korea Post and Telecommunications Corp.

North Korea, a highly militaristic dictatorship in which dissent is severely punished, has lagged far behind its neighbors economically, with development stymied by years of mismanagement and isolation.

Still, the country has a working mobile phone network that covers the capital, Pyongyang, and some outlying areas. The network is based on the GSM, or global system for mobile communications, standard.

Mobile phone use, though not widespread, was once increasingly visible among North Koreans. Visitors to the country say it has markedly declined since 2004.

Orascom's investment will cover network infrastructure and license fees for the first three years "to rapidly deploy a high quality network and offer voice, data and value added services at accessible prices to the Korean people," the statement said.

The deal "is in line with our strategy to penetrate countries with high population and low penetration by providing the first mobile telephony services," said Naguib Sawiris, Orascom Telecom's chairman and CEO.

It operates networks in Algeria, Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Tunisia and Zimbabwe and previously had a business in Iraq.

North Korea, which carried out an underground nuclear test in 2006, has been negotiating with the United States and other countries to receive aid and political concessions in exchange for abandoning its nuclear programs.

The country has also taken some steps to liberalize its dilapidated economy in recent years, and it courts foreign investment.

Alex Kuznetsov, an analyst at Bear Stearns in London, estimates that North Korea will achieve 20 percent wireless penetration in 2012 and Orascom will begin turning a profit on the venture two years before that.

Though Kuznetsov acknowledged that political risk is "quite a serious factor" in North Korea, Orascom's background in other emerging markets suggests it can succeed.

Orascom Construction Industries, also of Egypt, said in July last year that it signed a deal with a state-owned North Korean trading firm to acquire a 50 percent stake in a local cement company near Pyongyang.

Lafarge SA of France announced in December it was acquiring Orascom's cement businesses. Lafarge shareholders approved the deal this month.

Via [Mlive]