Tunisia scoops 3G and fixed line licence

Tunisia’s largest cellco by subscribers, Tunisiana has been issued a new telecommunications licence by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (MinCom), allowing it to launch fixed line and 3G services. According to Tunisia Live, Tunisiana was the only eligible bidder for the licence, after competitors Orange and Iliad failed to meet requirements. The cellco, which is majority owned by Qatar Telecom (Qtel) through its Kuwait-based Wataniya unit, has signed up Chinese vendor Huawei for its network rollout and will be the last of the country’s three wireless operators to launch 3G services. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, Orange was the first to market third-generation services, launching its network in May 2010, whilst Tunicell, the wireless arm of Tunisie Telecom, followed in August 2011.